SYMI Sylheti Youth Movement of India
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About

A movement, not a personality.

The Sylheti Youth Movement of India is a civic and cultural movement of young Sylheti-speaking Indians. We work for the recognition of the Sylheti language, the revival of its Nagri script, and a real voice for the communities that speak it. We speak as a collective.

Our principles

  1. Siblings, not rivals

    We speak of Bengali as a sibling language. We never speak against Bengali, Assamese or any other language, or the people who speak them.

  2. Policies, not persons

    We are firm about the neglect of the valley. We criticise decisions and policies, never individuals by name, and we respect the Assamese people and their language.

  3. Indian, plainly

    We are Indian citizens speaking about an Indian language. Our shared history with Sylhet is history, not a claim on any border.

  4. Both communities, always

    Sylheti is spoken by Hindus and Muslims. We use no religious symbols, and our work and our pictures include everyone.

  5. Many languages, one voice

    We celebrate Sylheti without ranking it above any other language. No one is shamed for how they identify or which languages they use.

  6. No source, no publish

    Every fact we publish carries a source you can check.

Sylheti. Socialist. Secular.

Sylheti: recognition, the right to report the language, Nagri revival, and representation for the valley.

Socialist, meaning public investment for the valley: lasting flood protection, budgets decided closer to the people, and investment in jobs and connectivity.

Secular: one language across communities, and a movement that holds them together.

How we are organised

  • Research and history. Builds the written case, keeps the sources, and works with scholars.
  • Culture and heritage. Literary evenings, Nagri workshops, music, and the events calendar.
  • Youth and campus. Organised circles in colleges and universities.
  • Media and communications. Our channels, our visual identity, and content in Sylheti for Sylheti speakers.
  • Field and outreach. A presence in villages, towns and flood-affected areas.
  • Coordination. Overall direction, and the final word on public positions.

Each cell has a lead and a small team. The structure works with five people or five hundred.

What we do

Six kinds of work, one movement.

From scholarship to village meetings, each part of the work builds a different piece of the foundation.

The evidence base

Building the written case with rigour: the position paper, the sources, the oral history archive.

  • Position paper on the linguistic case
  • Oral history and flood archive
  • Working with linguists and Nagri specialists
  • Documenting the Sribhumi renaming

Publications

The written record.

The case rests on scholarship. These are the papers and archives in progress.

Position paper

The Case for Sylheti Recognition

The founding document: the linguistic case, the history, the valley, and exactly what we ask for.

In preparation

Archive

Oral Histories of the Barak Valley

Recorded memories, flood accounts and family histories, gathered with consent from elders.

Collecting

Research brief

Sylheti Nagri: A Script Reclaimed

The history of the script, its near-loss, and the case for teaching it again.

In preparation

Report

The Sribhumi Renaming

A careful record of the November 2024 renaming and its reception.

In preparation

Data

Mapping Sylheti-Speaking Districts

A defensible, method-first estimate of Sylheti speakers in India.

In preparation

Anthology

Voices in Nagri

From puthi and Sufi poetry to new writing from the valley.

Planned

Status and contact

SYMI is registering as a society. We will publish the registration details here once complete. We do not accept donations until then.

General: contact@symi.in
Press: press@symi.in

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