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Bodo
politics comes full circle in Assam
Samudra Gupta
Kashyap
Kokrajhar,
May 1: Ten years ago, AGP candidate Paniram Rabha didn’t
dare campaign after filing his nomination from the Kokrajhar Lok
Sabha seat. The fear of ultras, the All Bodo Students’ Union
(ABSU) and the Bodo Peoples’ Action Committee (BPAC) kept him
away.
‘‘Things have changed, and so has changed the political
equation. The AGP, which used to be a party of only Assamese-speaking
people, has undergone a change in mindset and attitude,’’
says Bwiswmutiary.
Rabiram Narzary, who took over as ABSU president just three weeks
ago, echoes his feelings. ‘‘It is significant that the
AGP has adopted a positive attitude towards the problems of Bodos.
Chief Minister P.K. Mahanta has come forward to find a viable and
long-lasting solution to our demands,’’ says Narzary.
‘‘We now have sympathetic governments both at the Centre
and in the state.’’
Narzary claims the Centre has promised a Bodoland Territorial Council
(BTC) that will replace the existing and almost defunct Bodoland
Autonomous Council (BAC). The ABSU, which signed an accord with
the state government, on February 20, 1993 disowned the Bodoland
Accord three years later, terming it as an eyewash. ‘‘The
previous Congress state and Central governments cheated us in the
name of an accord that was never implemented in the true sense.
For the Bodos, the accord is a failure and the Congress an enemy
of Assam,’’ says Narzary.
The ABSU president is coordinating the election campaign of 12 candidates
fielded for the alliance in the May 10 elections. It is the same
outfit that had demanded a separate state in 1986.
The ABSU-BPAC are appealing to the voters to elect ‘‘indigenous’’
candidates. Asked to explain, Narzary says: ‘‘The Congress
relies heavily on the votes of Bangladeshi infiltrators. We are
against nominating or electing people who don’t belong to Assam,
like those with roots in former East Pakistan and Bangladesh.’’
The ABSU-BPAC combine is contesting nine seats in the alliance.
In three others it has ‘‘friendly’’ contests
with the AGP. ‘‘We are going to be major contributors
towards the victory of the AGP-BJP alliance,’’ says the
ABSU chief.
The ABSU-BPAC is also looking forward to an accord between the Centre
and the underground Bodoland Liberation Tigers (BLT), with Home
Minister L.K. Advani promising that the accord will be signed soon
after the elections. Already, the BLT and the security forces are
maintaining a ceasefire.
Chief Minister Mahanta, says Narzary, has been taking interest in
pushing the accord through. The ABSU, however, is not ready to give
up the demand for a separate state. Urkhaw Gwra Brahma, former president
of the ABSU and now an advisor, is singing praises of Mahanta. ‘‘The
state government has already accepted our three-decade-old demand
for introducing a Roman script for Bodo language. People haven’t
forgotten how the Congress government imposed the Devanagari script
on us in 1975,’’ he recalls.
In spite of the optimism among Bodo parties that the alliance with
the AGP-BJP will pay off, things may not be that smooth. The outlawed
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) is active in the state,
with ABSU-BPAC leaders alleging that the outfit is supporting the
People’s Democratic Front (PDF), the other political factions.
Security has been beefed up in the entire Kokrajhar district and
in Bodo-dominated constituencies in other districts. ‘‘The
NDFB is issuing threats to our supporters in areas close to the
border with Bhutan. They may start targeting our people, just like
the ULFA started doing with the AGP workers,’’ says Narzary.
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