Guwahati, Dec 31: Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president and State Agriculture Minister Atul Bora announced that the party will observe the year 2025 as the 'Mother Tongue' year.

Addressing a press meet here, Bora added that the regional party will undertake a programme, 'AGP in every village, town, and city', during the year to strengthen its organizational base in the State.

"We are going to mark 2025 as the 'Mother Tongue' year. The Union Cabinet's decision to confer the classical language status to Assamese language is very encouraging. But, we believe that lots of works need to be done to promote the mother tongue. In addition, there are several indigenous communities and tribes in Assam that have their own mother tongues. AGP represents people speaking all the indigenous languages in the State. There are languages like Bodo, Mising, Rabha, Karbi, and so on. All efforts must be made to further enrich the mother tongue. Our aim is to promote all the local languages as well as to foster a spirit of unity and mutual respect among the various indigenous communities of Assam," Bora said.

AGP will carry out various activities to promote the indigenous languages throughout the year 2025.

Bora said that the party will also undertake year-long outreach programme across the State to promote regionalism.

"We shall go to every village, settlement, town, and city as part of it. Our intention is to promote the ideology of progressive regionalism. History has shown that regionalism remains relevant in our State and AGP is the flag-bearer of regionalism. It is AGP's duty and responsibility to safeguard the indigenous people of Assam," he said.

He asserted that the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led NDA government, of which the AGP is a constituent, has taken steps to safeguard the indigenous communities, including measures to implement the provisions of the Assam Accord and the recommendations of the Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Accord.

Bora further claimed that there is no dissidence in the AGP.

"Our party is united. There is discipline in the party. There may be certain differences of opinion but decisions are taken collectivity after consultation. We will not allow any indiscipline in the party," he said.

Bora added that the AGP managed to grow strong during 2024, including securing representation in the Lok Sabha by winning a seat in the General Elections earlier this year.

Speaking on the occasion, AGP working president and Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management, Keshab Mahanta, said that the party is committed to total implementation of the provisions of the Assam Accord.