A Bodo community organisation has called on the Bodoland Territorial Council to take immediate and decisive action against illegal encroachment on forest land and the perpetrators behind a recent attack on a forest office — warning that the twin threats pose a serious risk to the ecological balance and identity of the indigenous Bodo people.
The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) submitted a detailed memorandum to BTC Chief Hagrama Mohilary in Kokrajhar on Monday, laying out its concerns and demands.
BJSM Working President DD Narzary strongly condemned the April 17 attack on the Runikhata Forest Office, in which miscreants ransacked government property and looted forest arms.
The organisation described the incident as a direct challenge to state authority and the rule of law, and demanded the immediate arrest of all those involved and the recovery of the looted weapons.
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Beyond the office attack, the memorandum highlighted what it described as an alarming rise in illegal encroachment on forest areas under the BTC's jurisdiction.
The BJSM said such encroachments were not only disrupting the ecological balance of the region but also threatening law and order — and, more fundamentally, the existence and identity of the Bodo people themselves.
Invoking the historic struggle that led to the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Council, the BJSM made an appeal to both the BTC leadership and the wider community to treat forest protection as a matter of survival.
"The forests of Bodoland are not merely land resources — they are the lifeline, identity, and future of the Bodo people. Protecting forests means protecting our very existence," the organisation said in its memorandum.