The 57th annual conference of the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) was held at Kokrajhar and was attended, among others, by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. It has once again underlined the historic importance of student bodies in Assam. It was in 1916 that the first conference of the Asam Chhatra Sanmilan, the first-ever student body in the whole of northeastern India, was held in Guwahati, whose open session was chaired by none other than Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa, the doyen of modern Assamese literature. Since then, much water has flowed down the Brahmaputra, and its banks have been witness to the emergence of a number of student organisations. Unlike in other states of the country, where the role of student organisations is primarily confined to issues and problems related to the student community in general, in Assam, and for that matter across the Northeast, student organisations have been at the forefront of socio-economic movements, with the protection of the identity of the indigenous communities in the backdrop of large-scale infiltration from erstwhile East Bengal/Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh remaining the most important issue. Looking back, one finds that almost all important political leaders of the region, right from Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi to the present Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, have come through different student organisations. The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), on its part, had once come to be referred to as a training ground for future politicians of Assam. The same applies to the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) too, because, since its inception, it has been fighting for the protection of the Bodo community. But, taking a close look, one finds that among all student bodies in the country, the ABSU stands out in terms of dedication, discipline, and commitment. Visiting any event organised by ABSU, one can see for oneself the kind of discipline it has been able to imbibe among its cadres. Moreover, ABSU is one student body that has also worked overtime to empower its members as well as the students belonging to the Bodo community by organising various kinds of workshops, training programmes, excursions, and so on. This is one area that other student organisations should probably look at closely in order to shape future leaders for the region.