NEW DELHI, May 31 ? Asserting that non-Bodos have no objections to Bodos being given autonomy sans a territorial council, Sanmilita Jana-Gosthiya Sangram Samity (SJGSS) has called for a round table conference to resolve the tangle. A delegation of SJGSS, a joint platform of 19 non-Bodo organisations today staged a demonstration at the Jantar Mantar here today opposing the move to create Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
Peeved at not being taken into confidence by both the Centre and the State Government, deputy chief convenor of the SJGSS, Brajen Mahanta said that while they were not opposed to the Bodo problem being resolved amicably, they wanted concrete assurances about safeguard of their rights and interest. Expressing the grouse that despite the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) and Government having completed 20 rounds of negotiations, they were yet to be formally taken into confidence, Sri Mahanta said they wanted a ?White Paper? to be published on the entire issue.
Apart from a round table conference involving all concerned besides the Centre and the State Government, the SJGSS wanted the Government to stall the move for creation of BTC and publication of the minutes of the dialogues between Government of India and BLT. Sri Mahanta said they favoured a solution to the problem according to the Bhupinder Singh committee?s recommendations. He said that the three-tier autonomy as proposed by the Bhupinder Singh Committee was the answer to the problem and not creation of BTC, which he alleged deprived the non-Bodos of their rights.
Sri Mahanta said they were not satisfied with the assurances of constitutional protection dished out by the State Government terming the proposal to create BTC as one-sided. He said that they apprehended that their political rights like fighting elections and rights to own land would be seriously jeopardised.