New Delhi/ Guwahati, Feb 10: Fresh from its talks with the NSCN (I-M) to try and return peace to the Naga hills at an early date, the Centre has clinched another accord in the North East: this time with the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), hoping to end strife in Assam’s Bodo-inhabited areas.
In a tripartite agreement signed today, the Centre, Assam and the BLT decided on the creation of an autonomous, self-governing Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) which would replace the existing Bodoland Autonomous Council.
As many as 3,082 villages have been identified for inclusion in the proposed BTC. These would be divided into four contiguous districts after reorganisation of the existing districts of Assam within a period of six months of the agreement. But the boundary demarcation would be subject to clearance of the Delimitation Commission.
Like the ongoing Naga peace talks, here again an armed group was kept out of the settlement. The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) continues to remain underground, the ban on it extended only a few weeks ago.
But Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani called today’s accord with the BLT a ‘‘positive leap forward’’ and said this would expedite development of Assam.
‘‘Now that the agreement has been signed, we can focus on development,’’ he said after the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) was signed between R C A Jain, Home Ministry’s special secretary (border management), Assam chief secretary P K Dutta and BLT chairman Hagrama Basumatary.
The issue of 95 villages was still pending but all the three parties had agreed to set up a committee with their respective representatives to resolve it within a period of three months, Jain said after signing the agreement.
The issue of disputed villages would be settled by consensus on the basis of three criteria — of tribal population being not less than 50 per cent, contiguity to the BTC or any other agreed relevant criteria.
Of the 46 BTC members, 30 would be reserved for the tribals to contest, five for non-tribals residing in the BTC areas and five open to all. Six others would be nominated by the Assam Governor from those communities who may not be represented in the elections to the 40 seats, Jain said.
Under the accord, safeguards have been incorporated to ensure protection of the rights of non-tribals in the BTC area and remove any disadvantage in relation to their rights on land and other privileges.
The Centre, Jain said, would soon table a Constitution amendment Bill in Parliament to include BTC in the Sixth Schedule. He did not elaborate whether it would be done this Budget session itself.
‘‘Elections to the BTC will be held as soon as Constitutional status is granted to it.’’ The existing BAC, he pointed out, only had the approval of the Assam legislature whereas the BTC would be backed by the Constitution.
The Centre also agreed to provide Rs 100 crore annually over a period of five years for infrastructural development of the BTC areas. According to Jain, the money would be routed through the Assam government and adequate steps had been taken to ensure it reached the BTC.
A Central Institute of Technology would be set up in the BTC area and it would be subsequently upgraded to a Centrally-funded state university.
The Centre had agreed to favourably consider the demand for inclusion of Bodo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Jain added that the demand for inclusion of Bodo Kacharis of Karbi Anglong district in the Scheduled Tribes (Hill) list would also be ‘‘sympathetically considered.’’
In 1993, it was Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao who asked Rajesh Pilot, then Minister of State for Internal Security, to handle the Bodo issue. Within weeks, Pilot drew up the Bodo Accord, signed between the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), Bodo Peoples’ Action Committee (BPAC) and the Assam government.
This was followed by the disbanding of the Bodo Volunteer Force, headed by Prem Singh Brahma, and creation of the BAC. But it was not destined to last long. The ABSU soon discovered that it hardly had any executive powers which could help the development process.
In March 1996, the next batch of ABSU leaders, headed by Urkhaw Gwra Brahma, declared the Bodo Accord as null and void and renewed their demand for a separate state.
Incidentally, Brahma, now a Rajya Sabha member, is tipped to be the chairman of the interim territorial council.
It was around the same time that the BLT emerged, leading to revival of violence. The BLT also came into sharp conflict with the NDFB, the underground group which has been demanding a sovereign Bodo state since 1987.