Our Correspondent
KOKRAJHAR: The president of All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), Promod Boro has made it clear that “the Bodoland movement is for securing historical justice to the indigenous Bodo people -- the sons of the soil”, adding that “the government must protect the dignity and identity of the sons and daughters in their ancestral land.”
In a statement from New Delhi, the student leader said, “We, the democratic peace-loving indigenous people of this country, urge upon the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to provide justice by resolving the long-pending Bodoland demand.”
On the issue of implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006, Boro said the movement groups condemned the authority concerned for non-implementation of the Act even after 13 years of its enactment. He said the Act was enacted to provide historical justice to the tribal and other traditional forest dwellers of this country who had been denied their fundamental right and human right since many decades. “The history of tribals of independent India has been most awful and in Assam it is ahead of all because the tribal become landless even after existence of special reservation under Chapter X of Assam Land and Revenue Regulation Act, 1886,” he said, adding that the land of the tribal people had been grabbed by some land-hungry people and the resources had been used by those people who were not entitled to that and majority of tribal peasants become poor labourers.
Boro said the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 was becoming more vital to provide justice and rights to tribals and also to make arrangements for their livelihood in the land where they were living with peace and honour. He demanded for early resolution of the Bodoland demand and its subsidiary demands along with granting political right to the Bodo people living outside the proposed Bodoland area and ST Hills status to the Bodos living in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao.