News Analysis India

Tag: Bodoland Territorial Region

  • Peace has come to BTR like a daughter-in-law to her marital home: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By PTI

    TAMULPUR: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Sunday said peace has come to Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) like a daughter-in-law who has shifted to her marital home and urged the people to repose their faith in the ruling NDA once again in the by-poll in the state.

    Sarma, who was addressing an election rally for UPPL candidate here, said that people’s vote in favour of BJP and its allies in the state has brought permanent peace in BTR.

    By-polls for five Assembly seats of the state are scheduled on October 30 and counting of votes will be held on November 2.

    Sarma said, “Just as a buwari (Assamese for daughter-in-law) comes permanently to her new home after her wedding, lasting shanti (peace) has come to Bodoland Territorial Region of the state…We will work together to ensure that this peace remains and development takes place”.

    The chief minister said a few youths who had continued to carry on in the path of violence have also now returned to the mainstream.

    “There is no sound of guns in BTR anymore, permanent peace and harmony have been established…After the peace agreement between All Bodo Students Union, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the government last year, there has been no violence in BTR.”

    He said ten years ago none would have thought that BJP flags would be waving in BTR and that the BJP, UPPL, AGP will come together to form the government.

    A few youths who had continued to be in the path of violence have also now returned to the mainstream.

    “There is no sound of guns in BTR anymore, permanent peace and harmony have been established,” Sarma said.

    Peace and development in BTR have been possible by “just one push of the finger” to vote for the BJP-led alliance.

    He said, “This paribartan (change) has come through just a vote. No one has to agitate anymore or take up guns for their rightful demands. Just one push of the finger is enough to bring the change.”

    Assuring that all pre-poll promises of development will be kept by the NDA in the state, Sarma announced that a new bridge would be constructed over Pagladia river at Khairani in Tamulpur constituency.

    Another bridge over the same river at Jartaluk is nearing completion and the work for a medical college and hospital in the town will commence shortly.

    Tamulpur will itself become a full-fledged district by Republic Day next year, he added.

    The chief minister also urged the people to take both doses of COVID-19 vaccine and recounted how the virus had claimed the late Tamulpur MLA, necessitating the by-poll.

    Earlier in the day, the chief minister took stock of the progress of several developmental projects in Baksa district, under which Tamulpur falls currently, an official statement said here.

  • Has durable peace returned to Bodoland? Birth of new rebel group belies Modi, Shah’s claim

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The formation of a militant group in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) belied the claim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the return of permanent peace to Assam’s Bodo areas.

    In this year’s Assam election campaign, the BJP, led by Modi and Shah, had sought to take credit for restoring peace in the Bodo areas. They had singled out the January 27, 2020 BTR peace accord for the gun falling silent.

    However, the formation of the United Liberation of Bodoland (ULB) suggests peace in the Bodo areas is still elusive.

    The Kokrajhar police gunned down two ULB insurgents in an encounter in the wee hours of Saturday. Two pistols and eight grenades were recovered from the site of the encounter.

    In a video message, a leader of the militant organisation said the BTR pact was a raw deal for the Bodos who have fought for decades for a separate Bodoland state.

    Declaring that it will continue with its fight till the long-cherished Bodoland state is achieved, he accused the Centre and the Assam government of hoodwinking the Bodos by making them to sign the “small” BTR agreement.

    “As long as we don’t get Bodoland state, we will not rest. Our struggle will continue. We haven’t got what we needed for peace in Bodoland. There cannot be any peace without Bodoland. We need Bodoland,” the insurgent leader, seen flanked by his over a dozen masked and gun-wielding colleagues, said.

    He claimed the young Bodo boys and girls were not happy with the BTR accord. They were hurt by the government’s statement that Assam will not be further divided, he said.

    Further, he warned of killing government officials and triggering blasts across the state.

    “In the coming days, if the police kill one innocent Bodo youth by branding him as a ULB member or its linkman, we will gun down 20 government officials,” the rebel leader threatened.

    He asked the government to withdraw the cases against certain former leaders of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), release other NDFB rebels languishing in jail and rehabilitate all former NDFB extremists or else it would trigger a series of bomb blasts across Assam in October.

    “We say it clearly and strongly,” the militant leader said.

  • Assam Congress forms committees to look into organisational matters of hill districts, Bodoland Territorial Region

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah has constituted two committees to take stock of organisational matters in three hill districts and the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) of the state.

    A four-member committee was formed for the hill districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, and Dima Hasao on Sunday, under the chairmanship of Lok Sabha MP Abdul Khaleque, the party’s Media department chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma said.

    Legislators Sashi Kanta Das and Golap Saikia are members of the committee, while Manas Bora is the convenor.

    On Saturday, another committee had been formed under the chairmanship of Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi to look after the organisational matters of the party in the Bodoland Territorial Region.

    Besides Gogoi who is the deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, the other members of the committee are MLAs Jadav Swargiary and Abdus Sobhan Ali Sarkar, Bisti Basumatary, Shankar Prasad Roy, Jewel Tudu, and Klengdon Ingti.

    The convenor of the committee is Bhaskar Dahal, Sharma said.

     

  • Assam CM Himanta appeals to ULFA chief Paresh Baruah to come forward for peace talks  

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: In his maiden media briefing as the Chief Minister of Assam on Monday, Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to Paresh Baruah, the self-styled “commander-in-chief” of the insurgent group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) to come forward for peace talks.

    “A dialogue with the ULFA is a two-way traffic. Paresh Baruah has to come forward. Similarly, we have to go to him. If both sides have the will, communication won’t be difficult,” Sarma said.

    He said peace returned to Bodoland Territorial Region and Karbi Anglong after the Centre signed peace pacts with the various insurgent groups.

    “Over the past five years (under the BJP government), people saw a process of peace and development in Assam. Peace returned to Bodo areas and Karbi Anglong. Our efforts now will be to bring the remaining rebel groups to the talks table for the establishment of permanent peace in the state,” the CM said.

    Appealing to Baruah and other ULFA members to join the peace process, he said killings and abductions will not solve problems. He was optimistic that the government will be able to bring all groups, still wielding the gun, to the mainstream within the next five years.

    ALSO READ | Once blue-eyed boy of Tarun Gogoi, Himanta Sarma gets reward for expanding BJP in Northeast

    Sarma said the first priority of his government will be to contain the Covid pandemic, stating that the situation in the state was alarming.

    The first meeting of the state Cabinet will be held on Tuesday and the CM said the government will try to fulfil all pre-poll promises, which include making Assam flood-free.

    On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he said the government will favour 20% re-verification of documents in the districts that share a border with Bangladesh and 10% re-verification elsewhere.

    “If the old draft of the NRC is found to be flawless during the re-verification process, we will go ahead with it. But if anomalies are detected, we will want the Supreme Court to see to it,” he said.

    The NRC of 1951 was updated in Assam under the direct monitoring of the apex court. Over 19 lakh people were left out of the draft.

    Asked if his government will bring in a law against “love jihad” and “land jihad” (a way to force people sell off their lands), Sarma said, “The poll promises are solemn for us. We will implement each one of them.”

    Stating that the state government has Rs 7000 crore in the treasury, he said Assam was one of the best fiscally-managed states in the country and there was absolutely no cause of concern.

    Earlier in the day, Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sarma. Thirteen others were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.

    Three of them belong to two BJP allies. They are Asom Gana Parishad president Atul Bora, its working president Keshab Mahanta and former Rajya Sabha member UG Brahma of the United People’s Party Liberal.

    The BJP ministers are party’s state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Parimal Suklabaidya, Chandra Mohan Patowary, Ajanta Neog, Ranoj Pegu, Sanjay Kishan, Jogen Mohan, Ashok Singhal, Pijush Hazarika and Bimal Bora.

    Brahma (UPPL), Pegu, Singhal and Bora are first-time ministers.

    Neog, the only woman in the ministry, had defected to the BJP from the Congress in December last year.

    Some CMs of northeastern states were among dignitaries who attended the swearing-in ceremony. Before taking the oath, Sarma had visited the Kamakhya and a few other temples. 

  • PM Modi, BJP committed to fulfil clauses of Bodo Accord: Union Minister Amit Shah

    By PTI
    KOKRAJHAR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that the Bodoland Territorial Region Accord (BTR), inked a year ago, has initiated the process of ending insurgency in the northeast.

    Attacking the Congress, Shah said that the grand old party had signed many agreements with different militant outfits in the past, but failed to keep the promises it made.

    “I have come here to iterate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are committed to fulfil all clauses of the BTR Accord, which will pave the way for peace and development in the region.

    It marks the beginning of the end of insurgency in the region,” Shah said.

    PM @NarendraModi ji initiated the process to end insurgency in the Northeast by signing the Bodo Peace Accord.This unprecedented crowd in Kokrajhar is a befitting reply to those who disturbed the peace in Assam by spreading venom in the name of Bodo and non-Bodo. pic.twitter.com/uUVMgQF4Tl
    — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) January 24, 2021

    Political rights, culture and language of all communities of Assam are secure under the BJP government, he said, during his address on the occasion of BTR Accord Day.

    “The prime minister was in Assam on Saturday, and he distributed land pattas (certificates) to more than one lakh indigenous people.

    The state government has already made Bodo the associate language of Assam.

    “Several measures have been taken to protect, preserve and promote the rich culture, language and heritage of all communities of the state,” the Union minister said.

    Only the BJP, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, can make Assam corruption-free, terrorism-free and pollution- free, Shah added.

    The BTR Accord, designed to usher in peace in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), was signed on January 27 last year by the Centre, the Assam government, all four factions of the National Democratic Front of Boroland and the then Bodoland Territorial Council chief Hagrama Mohilary.