NEW DELHI, May 3 ? Under pressure to act fast to resolve the Bodo tangle, the Union and Assam Government today decided to jointly draft the modifications to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution envisaging safeguards of the non-Bodos in the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The first meeting at the political level on the Bodo issue between Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi and Union Home Minister, LK Advani was used by Assam Government to clarify its position on creation of BTC and the amendments to the Sixth Schedule aimed at protection of the non-Bodos.
An official-level committee comprising officials of the Assam and Central government was decided to be constituted to work out the modalities of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. The Chief Minister was accompanied by State Flood Control Minister, Bharat Narah and top officials including Chief Secretary, PK Bora and Commissioner and Secretary, WPT&BC, PP Verma, while Minister in-charge for Department for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), Arun Shourie, Special Secretary (North-East), AM Nimbalkar, Secretary DONER, Dr PD Shenoy among other officials represented Central Government. Assam Government on its part offered 1999 notification demarcating the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) territory as the proposed BTC?s boundary. The proposal it may be recalled has already been rejected by the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT).
The demarcation of the BTC boundary is one of the area of dispute which is yet to be resolved. Indications are that the three sides are likely to hold further negotiations to resolve the issue. Emerging from the meeting, the Chief Minister told this newspaper that they have proposed that modifications specifying the protective measures be prepared jointly by the two Governments. ?An official level discussion would be held to iron this out, where we will also place our proposals,? he added. Sri Gogoi said that State Government on its own was not in a position to prepare the amendments as it did not have any Constitutional experts.
The last round of tripartate meeting on Bodo problem, it may be mentioned here had concluded on the note that Assam Government submit the modifications to the Sixth Schedule, it wanted for protection of non-Bodos in BTC. ?We have conveyed to the Union Home Minister that we want full Constitutional protection for the non-Bodos,? Sri Gogoi said. The Chief Minister has been holding consultations with all political parties and has since yesterday met MLAs and MPs belonging to all political parties. Sri Gogoi?s meeting with the Union Home Minister came at a time when Bodo leadership has began mounting pressure on the Central Government to immediately resolve the Bodo problem. The delegation of Bodo MLAs and All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and representatives of various Bodo organisations called on Union Home Minister to press for creation of BTC without further delay.
While safeguards for protection of non-Bodos like protection of their political rights, their rights to Government jobs, rights to own land to name a few may not be hard to ensure, the demarcation of the BTC boundary may prove be a tough call. The 1999 State Government notification in effect only includes the 10 km are along the Indo-Bhutan border. The BLT, on the other hand, it has been learnt are insisting on inclusion of the Bodo dominated villages that are part of the 353 villages that were taken out by the previous AGP regime, from the BAC area by a notification.
As with the previous regime, the present Congress ruled State Government is also not comfortable with the territorial demands made by the BLT as a section of senior Congress members are opposed to division of their constituencies. Even as further negotiations on the issue is expected in the future, the Centre, meanwhile, plans to expedite the development activities in the Bodo areas. It was agreed that some concrete measures to accelerate the development process in the Bodo area and the welfare of the people should be taken as early as possible, a spokesman of the Home Ministry said.
The spokesman said the identification of villages to be included in the proposed BTC and demarcation of district boundaries were the issues discussed. The focus was also on the steps to be taken to ensure peace in the area and goodwill among all sections of the society. The Bodo leadership, meanwhile has not taken kindly to the move to create rift among the Bodos and non-Bodos. SK Bwismutiary MP termed the move propping up of various non-Bodo organisations by vested interest as unfortunate. The BTC territory should be honourably demarcated, he pleaded.