NEW DELHI: Assamese to be compulsory official language for all government notifications, orders, acts and other such works in Assam, declared chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday.
The chief minister said in the BTR and Barak Valley district, Bengali and Bodo languages shall be used respectively.
“The English language shall continue to be used for communication with the government of India, central government offices and other state governments establishments,” the notification by the Assam government read.
The government said that for “interpretation of the provisions contained in any rules, acts, regulations, office order, court orders or judgements, the English version shall prevail”.
“Beginning this Bohag, Assamese will be the compulsory official language for all government notifications, orders, acts etc across Assam,” chief minister Himata Biswa Sarma wrote on X.
According to the 2011 Census of India, Assamese is the most widely spoken language in Assam, with approximately 15.1 million people — around 48.38% of the state’s population — reporting it as their mother tongue.
Bengali follows as the second most spoken language, with about 9.02 million speakers, constituting nearly 29.9% of the population. Bodo, recognised as an official language in parts of Assam, is spoken by approximately 1.48 million people, making up around 4.5% of the state’s population.
These figures highlight Assam’s rich linguistic diversity, shaped by its unique cultural and ethnic landscape. Last year, the Union cabinet on October 3 sanctioned conferring classical language status to the Assamese, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, and Bengali languages.
The state cabinet on October 8 endorsed a resolution to celebrate the status granted to the language and express gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “the significant gesture towards Assam’s cultural and language heritage”.
