Kokrajhar, Jan. 6: Giving vent to its frustration over the impasse in Assam’s Bodo belt, the Bodoland Liberation Tigers (BLT) today accused the Tarun Gogoi government of deliberately delaying the formation of a new administrative set-up. The outfit’s secretary general, Derhasat Basumatary, said the state government need not have convened an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of constituting the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). “The state government began a never-ending process by convening an all-party meeting. It was nothing but a delaying tactic.”
Basumatary criticised the government for not inviting MLAs of the Bodoland Demand Legislative Party — the third largest in the Assembly after the Congress and AGP — to the conclave on January 2 despite touting it as an all-party meeting.
The all-party meeting failed to take any decision on the two main issues — the inclusion of additional villages in the proposed administrative set-up and reservation of seats for non-Bodos in the council. As in the previous such meeting, Opposition parties asked for more information on the key issues, including the draft map of the proposed Bodo territory.
“There was no rationale behind convening the all-party meeting. As we had predicted, it failed to take any decision on the two issues that had been referred to it. The meeting was a waste of time,” Basumatary said.
On the inclusion of 93 more villages in the proposed territorial council, the BLT leader said his outfit would stick to the demand. “These villages had been notified to be part of the territory administered by the Bodoland Autonomous Council. Therefore, there is no reason why these should not be brought under the jurisdiction of an alternative set-up,” he said.
Basumatary warned that the BLT’s patience was running out, though it was still hopeful that the government would form the proposed territorial council before January 21. He said there was no scope for extending the ceasefire with the Centre beyond that date if a new administrative set-up did not come into being by then.
“We see no reason for further extension of the ceasefire because we are sure that the proposed BTC will be finalised before January 21,” the insurgent leader said.
The BLT expects the Gogoi government to take a “bold and firm decision” at the next all-party meeting on Thursday.
The chief minister, who had chaired the January 2 meeting, said his government would make the “final recommendation” on the BTC boundary on the basis of the outcome of the next all-party conclave.
Health minister Bhumidhar Barman, who is also chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee that is trying to resolve the BTC issue, said the state government would not like to take any decision without taking all parties into confidence.
All district committees of the BLT will observe January 9 as “martyrs’ day” in memory of the outfit’s founder vice-chairman, Onthaigwra Bodosa. He had been killed on that day in 1994 by members of the rival National Democratic Front of Boroland.
Nearly 300 BLT activists have been killed by security forces and rival militants.