ABSTRACT
With the suspension on 28 November 1974 of the agitation launched by the Bodo Sahitya Sabha for the adoption of the Roman script for the Bodo language, there has been a visible relaxation of tension in Assam. Not that the grounds for the demand of the Roman script for the Bodo language are entirely non-existent. It is clear that the government has been quite ruthless in its reaction to the agitation of the Bodo people. But while one can understand the ruthlessness of the government, it is difficult to understand the extreme anxiety and near-panic displayed by the non-Bodo people on the Bodo demand for the Roman script. While this self-respecting acceptance of an original non-Hindu tribal identity should be heartily welcomed, the prospects are that the Bodos, too, are on the way to preaching their own form of exclusivism and a closed-society system.
