BONORGAON (Kokrajhar), Feb 16— The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) today formally withdrew the movement for the creation of a separate State of Bodoland following the signing of the accord between the Central and the State governments and the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) for the creation of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) under the provisions of the amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The ABSU has also decided to try to convince the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) to come for the negotiation table to end the ‘gun culture’.
The 35th annual conference of the ABSU which concluded here today, expressed confidence that the BTC would fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the Bodos and the non-tribals. The ABSU conference urged upon the Central and State governments to take all necessary steps for proper implementation of all the clauses of the Accord for the protection of the socio-economic rights of all sections of people living in the BTC area. The conference demanded that the BTC authorities should extend financial and other help to the families of those killed in the Bodoland movement.
Talking to newsmen after the conference, ABSU president Rabi Ram Narzary said that the ABSU would extend all possible help to BTC for proper implementation of the Accord. He said that ABSU would also play a vital role in formation of a new political party for implementation of the Accord. Narzary said that the ABSU would try its best for bringing the NDFB to the negotiation table to bring an end to the gun culture. He said that the Bodo people want an end to the gun culture and hoped that the NDFB would respond to the wishes of the people and come forward for talks for a political solution of their problems.
Member of Parliament Urkhaur Gwra Brahma revealed that the Central and State governments and the BTC would form a tripartite committee for the implementation of the Accord. He expressed the view that though the ABSU would not be directly involved with the implementation of the Accord, it would have a vital role to play in this regard to ensure successful implementation of the Accord. The ABSU would keep a close eye on the developments and keep up the pressure on the State and Central governments for implementation of all the clauses of the Accord, he added. Brahma said that the ABSU, a students’ organization has been given the responsibility of taking up the political issues by the Bodo community and the organization would have to play its role in this regard as all sections of Bodo people have faith on the ABSU. He said that the BLT earned the confidence of the people after signing the Accord and now “they would have to dedicate their energy on building a strong society.”
Commenting on the apprehension by non-Bodos in some parts of Assam on the creation of the BTC, Brahma said that ABSU and BLT are not against non-tribals and maximum care has been taken in protecting the rights of all sections of people while preparing the Accord. He said that all sections of people should understand the liberal attitude adopted by the BLT and other Bodo organisations for the protection of all the rights of the non-tribals and for the first time, a tribal council would have reservations for non-tribals. He said that all sections of people in the proposed BTC area have supported the accord and only some vested interest circles outside of the BTC area have been instigating the people against the creation of the BTC for their narrow political gains. “I appeal to all sections of people of Assam to isolate such vested interest circles,” he said.
Brahma said that the challenge before the BLT now is to gain the confidence of all sections of people through their actions. The MP an influential border of the Bodo community, also appealed to the NDFB to come forward for talks for a political solution of their problems as the BLT accord proved that the problems can be solved through dialogues. Brahma also pointed out that former Bodo Sahitya Sabha president Bimeswar Brahma, who supported the idea of using Devnagari script for Bodo language, had to lay down his life, but his sacrifices did not go in vain as Bodo language would now be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The ABSU conference virtually turned out to be a victory rally for the signing of the accord and a large number of people, dressed in their traditional attire, flocked to the venue of the conference to celebrate the ‘victory of the Bodos’.