Ajmal vows to promote Assamese language in Census

Amid thespeculations about the fate of 'Assamese language' in the state on thesidelines of the state-wide vigorous opposition to the Centre move onCitizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Chief of All India United Democratic Front(AIUDF) Badruddin Ajmal has assured the Asam Sahitya Sabha that he will appealto the Muslims of the State to identify themselves as Assamese by stating theAssamese language as their mother tongue in the forthcoming Census, slated tobe started in the State from April 20, 2020.

Sabhahad a core group discussion on the preservation and spread of the Assameselanguage in association with Ajmal Foundation on Friday. Ajmal, on behalf ofthe Foundation, was the chief guest at the discussion.

The percentage of peoplespeaking Assamese in Assam have further dipped, creating widespread reactions.Along with Assamese, Bodo, Rabha and Santhali speakers have also been on thedecline while the number of Hindi and Bengali speakers has increased during thecorresponding period.

Sabha made a plea to Ajmal for his cooperation in preserving and spreading the Assamese language in the State. Sahitya sabha wants the Muslims of the State to identify themselves as Assamese and own the Assamese language as theirs. And to make this really happen, the Muslims of the State should give the Assamese language the first preference in the coming Census.

Thelanguages and mother tongue data of 2011 census has been released by censusauthorities that points to the further dip from 48.80 in 2001 to 48.38 in 2011.The percentage of Assamese speakers was 57.81 per cent in 1991.

Ajmal assured that he is goingto work in the run-up to the Census 2021 to make minorities living in sar andother areas in the State to mention Assamese as their mother tongue. He,however, has appealed to the sabha to define the term 'indigenous people' ofAssam.

Itmay be mentioned that Bodo speakers, too, declined to 4.53 per cent of thetotal population in 2011 from 4.86 per cent in 2001. On the other hand, thepercentage of Bengali speakers rose to 28.91 per cent in 2011 from the 27.54 in2001 while the corresponding increase in the number of Hindi speakers has been6.73 per cent in 2011 from the 5.89 in 2001.