Several organisations supporting creation of Bodoland state have threatened to resume the agitation over their demand, initially through a ‘rail roko’ in October and an indefinite economic blockade in Bodo areas in November, if the Centre and state governments failed to respond to their demand.
Among them are the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), the pro-talk faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), and the Peoples’ Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement.
“We will organise a ‘rail roko’ agitation on October 10 across the state in the first phase of the agitation. From the first week of November, we will hold an indefinite economic blockade in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD),” ABSU President Promod Boro told IANS.
“We will also organise sit-ins and hunger strikes in November,” Boro said, adding that they were forced to resume the agitation since Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at the Centre and in the state had failed to resolve the Bodos’ problems.
He said that while the BJP assured to look into the statehood demand ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and also the 2016 Assam assembly polls, yet the party had ignored the issues of Bodoland and the Bodo people after coming to power.
“The people of Bodoland have been agitating peacefully since 1967 for a separate Bodo state. The statehood movement in Gorkhaland has already become volatile. I do not know how long the people of Bodland will continue to agitate peacefully,” he said.
Asked about BTAD that was set up in 2003, Boro said its creation was never their demand. “BTAD has failed to fulfil the aspirations of the Bodo people as a whole. Only a few leaders have become rich after the creation of BTAD while problems remain for the common Bodos,” he said.