Kovind to be first President to address Bodo Sahitya Sabha meet

Guwahati, May 3 (IANS) Ram Nath Kovind would be the first President to attend and address the 61st annual conference of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), a regional language literary meet, in western Assam's Tamulpur on Wednesday.

The President accompanied by his wife arrived in Guwahati on Tuesday.

The President accompanied by Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other dignitaries would attend the mega event of the BSS.

On Thursday, he would got to Aizawl to address the 16th Convocation of the Mizoram University.

The northeastern region, where tribals and non-tribals reside, preserve over 200 dialects.

The three-day conference of BSS began on Monday.

The Assam government has sanctioned special casual leave to the state government employees who are participating in the conference being held at Kachubari in Tamulpur in the Bodoland Territorial Region bordering Bhutan and West Bengal.

BSS President Toren C. Boro said thousands of delegates attended the conference from different parts of the world so far.

Apart from Assam, a large number of people speaking the Bodo language live in Bangladesh, Nepal, Tripura, Nagaland and West Bengal.

Inspired by the Assam Sahitya Sabha, the BSS was formed in 1952 for the development of literature, culture, and language. It is playing a leading role in maintaining coordination among different ethnic groups.

The Bodos (or Boros) were once a powerful and dominant race in the northeast.

The Assam government recognised the Bodo language as an associate official language of the state in 2020 after the signing of the Bodo peace accord between the Centre, Assam government and four Bodo militant outfits in January 2020.

According to the Census 2011, there are around 14.16 lakh Bodo speakers in Assam (4.53 per cent) of the total population of the state.