Feb. 19: The All-Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam today asked all ministers, MPs and MLAs of the community to resign from their political parties in protest against the new Bodo accord, which has paved the way for the creation of a Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
Leaders of the state’s Adivasi community include Speaker Prithibi Majhi, PCC president Paban Singh Ghatowar, revenue minister Methias Tudu, labour minister Rupam Kurmi and minister of state for PWD Etuwa Munda.
The students’ association is an influential organisation and its appeal is likely to be backed by the entire community.
The central executive committee of the association, which met in Tezpur on Sunday, decided not to hold talks with the state government on the issue till a recommendation is made to the Centre for inclusion of the Adivasi community in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
It also decided to stage a demonstration in front of the Assembly on February 28 to press for revocation of the Bodo accord and a halt to the process of creating a new council.
A similar demonstration by the Sanmilita Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti (SJSS), a confederation of 18 non-Bodo organisations, is slated for February 25 at Dispur. The Adivasi students’ association is an affiliate of the SJSS, which announced a new phase of agitation almost immediately after the Bodo accord was signed in New Delhi.
The Adivasi students’ association, too, will chalk out a detailed agitation programme at the sixth Adivasi Mahasabha, to be held in Guwahati on May 2-4. According to a resolution adopted at the Tezpur conclave of the association, all ministers, MPs and MLAs should quit their parties because these supported the creation of a BTC “in total disregard of the problems the new administrative set-up may create for the Adivasis”.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, however, reiterated that the accord signed by the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) with the Centre and his government would not only fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the Bodo people but also ensure equal rights and opportunities for the non-Bodos.
In a bid to allay the fears of non-Bodos, the state government asked the deputy commissioners of all Lower Assam districts to constitute peace committees and arrange for distribution of copies of the accord among the people. Dispur has already publicised the full text of the accord through advertisements in Guwahati-based newspapers.
Leaders of all Bodo organisations, including the BLT, have appealed to the non-Bodos not to harbour the misconception that they would lose their rights and privileges under a new administrative set-up.
Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day conference of the All-Bodo Students’ Union, BLT chairman Hagrama Basumatary had said that the non-Bodos had nothing to fear about.
The rival National Democratic Front of Boroland, however, described the new accord as a faulty pact that had the backing of a “handful of opportunists and Bodo people with leanings towards Delhi”.