The Koch National Parishad has called upon members of the Koch-Rajbongshi community in Assam to register their ethnicity as “Koch” and their mother tongue as “Koch” in the ongoing census, asserting that “Rajbongshi” is a descriptive term and not an ethnic identity.
The appeal was made during the Second Session of the National Reflection Convention organized at Janata Club auditorium in Dolaigaon near Bongaigaon. The convention was presided over by AKRASU founding adviser Bimal Kumar Barman and attended by representatives of various organizations, scholars and researchers.
Addressing the media, Koch National Parishad president Biswajit Ray said the convention unanimously adopted the principle of “One Nation, One Identity, One Language” and urged members of the community to record their ethnic identity as “Koch” and language as “Koch” in the census.
Ray argued that the term “Rajbongshi” is an adjective and not an ethnic designation. He claimed that the combined usage of “Koch-Rajbongshi” had led to divisions within the community and stressed the need to strengthen the historical identity of the Koch people.
The convention also resolved to rename the Koch-Rajbongshi National Parishad as the Koch National Parishad, dropping the word “Rajbongshi” in line with the organization’s stand on a unified ethnic identity.
Another major resolution adopted at the meeting was the formation of a Koch Sahitya Parishad to promote research, preservation and development of Koch language, literature and culture. Retired teacher, language activist and poet Bimal Kumar Barman was appointed president of the literary body, while Phanindra Narayan Dev was named general secretary.
According to the organization, the newly formed literary council plans to publish a comprehensive volume titled “Maor Rao”, documenting regional linguistic variations of the Koch language spoken across areas of the undivided Goalpara district.
The convention also renewed the long-standing demand for Scheduled Tribe (Plains) status for indigenous Koch people. Biswajit Ray alleged that despite the demand being raised since 1967, it had remained unresolved due to the inclusion of different Rajbongshi groups in earlier proposals.
The convention resolved to urge both the Assam and Central governments to grant ST (Plains) status to indigenous Koch people on the basis of the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the 1952 electoral rolls.
Participants also demanded that the Kamatapur Autonomous Council be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and granted greater autonomy.
