3 groups will intensify stir for a separate ‘Bodoland’

Guwahati: In what may be the first direct fallout of the Centre’s move to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir, three outfits fighting for separate “Bodoland” in Assam on Friday decided to resume their movement.

The National Federation for New States, an umbrella body of organisations demanding new states, has also convened a meeting in New Delhi in September to chalk out its strategy to intensify the movement.

All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) president Promod Boro, who is spearheading the movement for a separate Bodoland in Assam, told this newspaper that members of ABSU, National Democratic Front of Boroland (Progressive) and the People’s Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement staged a three-hour demonstration at the district headquarters, demanding creation of a separate state of Bodoland.

He argued that if the Centre can bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir to create two Union territories, there is no reason why similar steps cannot be taken elsewhere in the country to fulfill the aspirations of the people. Referring to the history of the campaign for a separate Bodoland, the ABSU president noted that the first demand for the creation of autonomous region of Udayachal was raised in 1967 by the Plains Tribals Council of Assam, and ABSU started the movement for a separate state on March 2, 1987. After a series of talks with the government, the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) was formed in February 1993, but the government failed to fulfil its promises. The entire movement was resumed in 1996 and at the same time the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) also launched an armed movement.

ABSU suspended its movement in 2004 after the signing of a peace pact between the government and the BLT in 2003, which led to the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

Justifying the demand for a separate homeland for Bodos, Mr Boro said the BTC had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the people, while the government also failed to implement all clauses of the accord signed with the BLT. Regretting that adequate powers were not transferred to the BTC , he said the governor did not clear 25 bills passed by the BTC legislative council.

The National Federation for New States (NFNS) said the way in which the Union law ministry has issued the notification invoking powers under Article 370(1) of the Constitution, it is obvious that creation of the Union territories of Ladakh, without an Assembly, and Jammu and Kashmir, with an Assembly, was a decision of political convenience.

As the BJP has a huge majority in the Lok Sabha and has shown that it can cobble up the numbers in the Rajya Sabha to create new states or Union territories, the government should take steps to create the states of Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Vidarbha, Tipraland and Autonomous State of Karbi-Anglong, and initiate the process to create other states that bring out a better distribution of resources and opportunities and fully implement Article 14 of the Constitution, said NFNS secretary Swapnajit Sanyal in a statement.