Assam: The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) has called upon the Assam Election Commission to publish the Electoral Roll for the upcoming Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Election 2025 in the Bodo language, alongside Assamese. The demand was submitted through a memorandum to the Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner on Monday, citing provisions of the Assam Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020.
ABSU President Dipen Boro stressed that the inclusion of Bodo, a language recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, is a matter of constitutional entitlement. “This is not just a demand—it is a constitutional right,” Boro said, asserting that Bodo-speaking citizens must be able to access crucial electoral information in their own language.
In a parallel move, the union expressed deep resentment over the exclusion of Bodo from the recently advertised Assam Judicial Service Grade-III Mains Examination, where Assamese was made a compulsory language. ABSU submitted a separate memorandum to the Registrar of the Gauhati High Court, urging immediate rectification and the inclusion of Bodo in the recruitment process for judicial services.
Terming the repeated sidelining of Bodo as “systematic neglect,” ABSU announced a symbolic protest to be held on July 17. As part of the demonstration, members of the student body plan to publicly burn copies of the judicial examination advertisement to register their discontent.
“Despite its official recognition, the Bodo language continues to be excluded from vital state processes, which is unacceptable and discriminatory,” said Boro, adding that such oversight undermines both the cultural identity and legal rights of the Bodo-speaking population.
The demands come amid growing calls for linguistic inclusivity and recognition of indigenous languages across India’s northeastern states, particularly in regions with strong ethnolinguistic identities like Bodoland.
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