GUWAHATI, Jan 17? The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) today demanded immediate intervention from the Centre in creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in view of the ?negative and dithering attitude of the State Government?. Talking to this newspaper the president of the ABSU, Rabiram Narzary accused the present Congress Government in the State of trying to create a ?constitutional crisis? over formation of the BTC by proposing reservation of 10 seats in the proposed 40-member BTC for general category.
The ABSU President alleged that it was a surprise from the State Government which had earlier agreed to abide by the Cabinet decision taken by the erstwhile AGP government to keep 10 seats in the Council open while reserving the rest 30 seats for tribals. He pointed out that till the all-party meeting of December 16 last year the Congress Government had been maintaining a stand for reservation of 30 BTC seats to tribals and keeping the rest 10 seats open for all communities. ?However, after the December 16 all-party meeting the State Government has changed its stand to our utter surprise,? he said adding that the changed stand of the Government besides creating a constitutional crisis will further delay creation of BTC inordinately.
Constitutional crisis will be created in view of lack of any provision in the statute for reservation of seats for general category. The ABSU leaders said the changed stand of Assam Government reflected its ?reluctance to form the BTC in order to solve the Bodo crisis?. Warning that all the democratic Bodo groups which has been supporting the BLT vis-a-vis the peace-talks with the Government of India and State Government, are not going to accept any ?agreement imposed on them?, the ABSU leader demanded immediate intervention from the Centre to end the stalemate over the BTC.
The ABSU also lambasted the AGP for adopting a negative attitude towards the BTC creation and warned that the regional party?s latest ?unfavourable? stand on the BTC would force the Bodo political groups to rethink on their political understanding with the AGP. ?The AGP which was in the process of finalising the formation of BTC while in the power, now has a moral responsibility towards ensuring a solution to the lingering crisis. Instead the party seems to be interested in deriving political mileage out of the present crisis over the BTC. Probably, the AGP has not realised that it has allowed itself to become the scapegoat in Congress design,? Sri Narzary said.
According to the ABSU, reservation of 10 BTC seats for general category will lead to breeding of ?permanent? tribal-non-tribal tension in the BTC areas besides luring infiltrators from outside who will be out to get hold of the ten reserved seats. The ABSU leader pointed out that the BLT during course of peace-talks had agreed for abolition of sub-clause six of the Article 332 in the Sixth Schedule which stand for reservation of all Assembly seats to tribals, in the interests of preservation of political rights of the non-tribals in the BTC. The BLT agreed so on condition that 30 seats of the BTC would be reserved for tribals while the rest 10 would be kept open for all communities.