“We had proposed for talks with the Centre and the state government to press our demand for the separate state of Bodoland.In the past we have protested in a democratic way.We will continue to agitate in this way only,”he said.

The Bodos have long fought for a separate state and after a 16-year armed struggle they signed a peace accord with New Delhi in 2003,which gave them autonomy over four districts namely Kokrajhar,Chirang,Baksa and Udalguri.

On August 9,Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had urged ethnic minorities to unite and rejected demands for separate statehood.“I am not going to divide Assam.We all need

The(NDFB-PTF)has stated that it would be better for the Bodos and other tribal communities to be part of a Special Administrative Region in the People’s Republic of China.

to live together.Stop bandh culture and go for work culture.When we are one,the others will fear to break us up,”said Gogoi.“We may be Rabhas,Bodos,Karbis,Chutias,Gorkhas(ethnic communities)or minorities.But we all need to live together as Assamese under one umbrella in the state of Assam from Sadiya to Dhubri,”he added.

The All Bodo Students’Union in the meantime reit erated that the creation of Bodoland is the only option to safeguard the rights of the Bodos because the administrative arrangements under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution are fraught with many shortcomings and has warned the Assam Government that it would resort to a‘vigorous democratic agitation’if the Centre and State Government failed to arrange tripartite talks with the student body.

After violence erupted for the fifth consecutive day in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district because of its own statehood demands,the Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi,perhaps fearing a similar situation in the BTC areas said that his government is willing to discuss statehood if the Bodo agitators shunned the path of violence.The Chief Minister had even assured the agitators that he would take up the issue during his visit to New Delhi on the 11th of August.However,upon his return from New Delhi,Mr.Gogoi said in a statement that the doors for negotiations were always open for those who eschewed violence.“Violence will not solve any problem.Rather,it will compound matters.Only through non-violent,democratic and peaceful means can problems be resolved amicably.”He warned the agitators that the government would not allow anyone to take the law into their own hands.

To add to the already troubled situation,with the demand for a separate Bodoland came fears from the non–Bodo communities living in the proposed Bodoland areas about what the creation of a Bodoland would mean for them. The Bodo National Conference(BNC)however was quick in allaying these fears and has said that the proposed Bodoland would be a state for all communities and not just for Bodos.

Another interesting development in this whole affair was the release of a press statement by the publicity secretary of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland–Progressive (NDFB-PTF) which stated that it would be better for the Bodos and other tribal communities to be part of a Special Administrative Region in the People’s Republic of China if all that the Central Government of India is willing to do is to provide more power to the existing autonomous councils of the North East Region as opposed to bowing to the separate calls for statehood.

The Union Minister of Home Affairs Sushil Kumar Shinde had recently said that the Centre plans to give more power to autonomous councils to uplift the socio – economic status of the Scheduled Tribes of India’s North East Region.

It may be mentioned here that the united NDFB was originally fighting for a sovereign Bodoland comprising the present Bodoland Territorial Administered Districts(BTAD)areas as well as other areas of the north bank of the Brahmaputra River which are inhabited by tribal people.However,after its splintering into three different factions,two out of these three factions,namely the NDFB PTF and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland–Ranjan Daimary(NDFB RD)are now asking for a state within the territory of India.

Other organizations such as the Bodoland Peoples Front(BPF)whose leaders had signed the memorandum of settlement on the 10th of February 2003 for the creation of the autonomous council have revived the demand for statehood.This is a clear indication that though the BPF is at the helm of affairs in the BTC area,it is not satisfied with the way thing are at the moment and it sees no other alternative for the uplift of the region other than the creation of a new Bodoland.

If the issue of Telangana is placed in Parliament,so should Bodoland

Hagrama Mohilary,the president of the BPF and chief of Bodoland Territorial Council(BTC)had said after a meeting of the executive council of the BTC that they had demanded for the same-level of talks for the creation of Bodoland as for Telangana.“If the issue of Telangana is placed in Parliament,so should Bodoland”,he added.The party had even organized a mass rally on the 4th of August to put pressure on the government on Bodoland.

Even as the three statehood-seeking groups of the state prepare for tripartite talks on their demands with the Centre and the government from September 2 in New Delhi,the Centre has informed the Lok Sabha it has no plans to create any new states.

In reply to a written question by Bodoland People’s Front Lok Sabha member Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary whether the government has any plans to create new states like Bodoland,Gorkhaland,Vidarbha or Bundelkhand on the lines of the proposed Telangana state,minister of state for home RPN Singh said,“There are no such proposals under consideration of the Government of India at the moment.”

EP Desk