Himanta Urges Non Native Settlers to List Assamese as Mother Tongue in Census

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday appealed to people from other parts of the country who have settled in Assam and adopted the Assamese language and culture to identify Assamese as their mother tongue in the ongoing Census exercise. Addressing the Independence Day gathering after hoisting the National Flag, he said the 2026 Census would be crucial for future policy planning and urged residents to participate in the enumeration process. “The year 2026 is an important one as the census process has started. On the basis of data collected, the future of the country will be planned,” Sarma said, stressing that participation in the exercise was both a responsibility and a duty. The Chief Minister made the appeal against the backdrop of a steady decline in the proportion of Assam’s population identifying Assamese as their mother tongue in successive Census exercises. According to the report, Assamese was identified as the mother tongue by 59.53% of Assam’s population in 1971. The share declined to 48.80% in 2001 and further to 48.38% in 2011. He clarified that members of Assam’s indigenous tribal communities should identify their respective languages as their mother tongues. He also said residents of the Barak Valley should exercise their own discretion while reporting their mother tongue. He emphasised that the government was committed to protecting and promoting all indigenous languages of Assam, describing tribal languages as equally valuable to the state’s linguistic heritage. At the same time, he appealed to people who had migrated from states such as Rajasthan and other parts of India but had subsequently embraced the Assamese language and culture to mention Assamese as their mother tongue. Census data shows that the share of Bengali speakers in Assam increased from 27.53% in 2001 to 28.91% in 2011. The proportion of Hindi speakers also rose from 5.89% to 6.73% during the same period. The Census exercise in Assam began with the self-enumeration facility on August 2, which will remain open until August 16. House-listing and housing Census operations are scheduled to be conducted from August 17 to September 15. However, the Census exercise has been postponed in flood-hit Sivasagar and Charaideo districts due to the severe impact of this year’s floods. Also Read: Assam CM Announces 8 New Sub-Districts on Independence Day