Have you heard of Assam's "Chutiyas"?
What's the story
A tweet by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram has reignited an old debate, and also exposed the ignorance of "mainstream" Indians about the northeast.
Oram tweeted about his meet with a delegation of the "All Chutiya Jati Sanmilan" regarding inclusion of the "Aboriginal Chutiyas of Assam" in the list of plains tribes.
Unsurprisingly, many social media users were surprised by his "language."
Twitter Post
The tweet by Oram that got Twitterati riled up
A delegation of All Chutiya Jati Sanmilan, Assam led by Shri R.P.Singh, MP (LS) called on me at my residence office, New Delhi and submitted a memorandum for inclusion of the Aboriginal Chutiyas of Assam in the list of plains tribes under 6th schedule of the Constitution. pic.twitter.com/jj6KYYT2RB
— Jual Oram (@jualoram) March 12, 2018
Reactions
Twitterati was shocked, angry, confused
"Sir Aap Unionminister hi! Aur aap aisa bhasha use kar rahe hi? Thoda respect dijiye (Sir you are a union minister and you are using such language? Please show respect)," said @vishuluk_s.
@RottenOnly went for sarcasm: "Impressive and very expressive language. Ur educational n political cureer must be impressive."
Even MP Baijayant Jay Panda was confused: "Am I reading this right?" he wondered.
Twitter Post
This amused person tried a witty remark
When you're way to honest.. 😂
— Dexter (@MunnaKaTunna) March 12, 2018
Definition
The "Chutiya" vs "chutiya" war
For our non-Hindi speaking readers, "chutiya" is a popular slang word in Hindi, commonly heard in the streets of North India.
For non-Assamese readers, "chutiya" is a tribe indigenous to the state. Wikipedia describes them as "the descendants of the Sino-Tibetan family of Mongoloid stock."
Most of the OBC community today resides in Upper Assam districts, though some have settled in Lower Assam too.
Spelling
So is the correct spelling "chutiya" or "sutiya"?
But then another debate erupted, this time about its spelling. Since it's pronounced "sutiya" in Assamese (the language doesn't have the "ch" sound), should it be spelt "Sutiya"?
In practice, both spellings are commonly used and accepted.
Oram stuck to his version: "If you spell it Sutia the pronunciation in Assamese becomes Hootia. Chutiya is the spelling and pronunciation is Sutia," he explained.
Facts
Interesting facts about the Chutiya tribe for the unaware
Here're some interesting facts about Assam's Chutiyas. According to historians, the word came from "chut," or "mountain top," where they used to reside as far back as 700 AD.
Their original language, also called 'Chutiya,' has become extinct.
There are reportedly around 2.5mn Chutiyas in India.
In 2012, a controversy erupted when Facebook started banning accounts of people with the surname, considering them fake.
Do you know?