Assamese fulfills various criteria fixed by the Union ministry of culture for any language to be declared as classical. It should have ancient texts and documented history around 1,500-2,000 years old, which the speakers value as their cultural legacy and original literary heritage.

But in 1836, ten years after Assam came to be ruled by the East India Company following signing of the Treaty of Yandabo and was placed under the administration of the Bengal Presidency, Bengali was declared as the language of courts and educational institutions in the region, replacing Assamese.

The move was a huge setback for the language and education and literature suffered. At that time, American Baptist Missionaries, who published the first Assamese newspaper Orunodoi, and intellectuals like Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Gunabhiram Barua and Hemchandra Barua who wrote several books, grammar texts and dictionaries, took up the cause for the language. In 1872, Assamese was declared as the language of administration and education in Assam.

But the language issue resurfaced after India's Independence with demands being raised to make Assamese the official langauge of the state. The Assam Sahitya Sabha passed two resolutions — one in 1950 and another in 1959 demanding Assamese to be made the sole official language. This led to a series of protests by non-Assamese speakers which turned violent on July 4, 1960 where one Assamese student was killed and six people injured.

Following this, the Assam government proposed the Assamese Official Language Bill in October 1960 opting for two official languages, Assamese and English (for an interim period). This led to protests in Barak Valley, where Bengali speakers are in majority, that resulted in several deaths. This forced the government to add Bengali as the administrative language in that region.

Assam witnessed another language movement in the early 1970s when Gauhati University decided to introduce Assamese and English as the medium of instruction in all colleges under its jurisdiction. This led to discontent in the Barak Valley and Bengali speakers leading the university to issue a circular saying English will be the medium of instruction, but students can answer their exam questions in English, Assamese and Bengali.

The decision to include Bengali led an agitation by Assamese speakers which forced the university to revise its decision and make Assamese the primary medium of instruction with English as an alternative one and students having the option of answering either in Assamese or English. This again led to discontent in Barak Valley which made the government set up a separate university for that region.

“We have had to agitate for recognition of our own language. With Thursday’s announcement we will now be able to boldly say that our language is unique and has a long and cherished history. We won’t have to explain that it is a not a sister of any other language,” said eminent poet and former professor of Assamese at Arya Vidyapeeth College in Guwahati.

Assam Sahitya Sabha played a crucial role in Assamese getting the classical language tag. Kuladhar Saikia, former president of the organisation and Sahitya Akademi Award winner, explained the process that went into the announcement.

“During my term as the president, I took it as a mission to get the classical language tag for Assamese. Accordingly, a high-powered committee was formed in March 2021 to ensure that it happened,” said Saikia.

In August 2023, the committee handed a 392-page report with full documentary evidence about Assamese language’s antiquity including details of folk dances, culture, art and literature to the language expert committee of the Sahitya Akademi.

“In July this year, I wrote a letter to letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the issue still pending and requesting him to look into it. That moved the whole thing and culminated in Thursday’s announcement. We are grateful to the Centre and the state government for the positive steps they took,” said Saikia.