Chairman of Tiprasa Indigenous People’s Regional Alliance (TIPRA) – Pradyot Debbarma has advocated preservation of languages of non-Kokborok speaking indigenous communities in Tripura. 

TIPRA chairman Pradyot Debbarma has written a letter to the chief executive officer (CEO) of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), of which he is a member, on the matter. 

“While the promotion of Kokborok as a language is very important, we must be very sensitive and conscious of other tribes living in Tripura who are non-Kokborok speakers and there should be no bias against them especially when it comes to employment,” TIPRA chairman Pradyot Debbarma stated in his letter. 

Debbarma, who is also the chairman of the TTAADC’s advisory reforms committee, has requested the CEO of the Council to constitute a “language development committee” to preserve language and culture of other indigenous communities. 

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“The Tiprasa community has suffered as a minority in the state and we must not repeat this on our other smaller communities, who are also part and parcel of the Tiprasa community,” TIPRA chairman Pradyot Debbarma said. 

He added: “This is how we can remain unified as one.” 

“…if thansa (unity) has to be preserved then we have to take everyone along no matter how small the numbers,” Pradyot Debbarma said.