ABSU to launch Bodoland movement through 'Rally for Solution'

From our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR, June 12: The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) on Sunday re-affirmed to launch the democratic Bodoland movement through a massive ‘Rally for Solution’ held at Tamulpur in Baksa district today. The ABSU paid rich homage to the first Bodoland martyr Sujil rzary, a class IX student who was killed on June 12 in the year 1987 while returning from a mass rally in Guwahati’s Judge Field to demand Bodoland, and all the martyrs of Bodoland Movement since 1987.

In his address, the president of the ABSU, Promod Boro, said in the entire movement the Bodos had lost more than 5,000 lives in the last four decades. He said that like any other movement for survival and protection, the Bodoland movement was also one which had build an awareness on protection of identity, land, language and culture, to live with dignity of life as a citizen of the country and the universe through struggle. The Bodoland movement had played the role of eye-opener for the downtrodden communities and the margilized tribes in the region to live with honour and protection under the Constitution of the country, he said, adding that the movement had provided enough evidences about the discrimition, exploitation and suppression by the ruling class people on the underprivileged sections of the society. He also said that the largest tribal community (Bodo) of the north-eastern region was surviving because of the movement.  If there had been no movement then the margilized group of people like Bodos would have vanished because of aggressive assimilation and systematic exploitation.

The ABSU president said the student body has restarted the third face of Bodoland movement from the year 2010 and the then UPA government organized a series of tripartite talk with the struggling organizations in the year 2013 and 2014 but did not adopt any policy for permanent solution of the issue. On the other hand, the ABSU had supported the BJP-led NDA in 2014 general election as the BJP had assured a solution to the Bodo issue as one of the points in their election manifesto (Additiol). But in last two years they did not take up any pragmatic initiative to resolve the issue, he said.

“The NDFB (P) is also under ceasefire agreement since 2005 for permanent solution of the Bodoland issue, as we have noticed there have been several rounds of talks in bureaucratic level but no talk has been arranged in political level for permanent solution of the issue,” he said. “So, on this day, which is the martyr day of the first martyr Sujit rzary and all the martyrs of Bodoland Movement, ABSU reaffirms to continue its democratic mass movement for lasting solution of the issue,” he said adding that the slogans of the government for mere economic and infrastructure development could not fulfill the ethnic aspiration and preservation of the identity and culture of the Bodo people. “We strongly believe that the creation of  Bodoland state will be the only solution to ensure the protection of identity and culture of the Bodo community,” said Boro.

He added, “The ABSU appeals to the rendra Modi-led Union Government at the Centre to adopt a policy in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament for peaceful solution of the Bodoland issue. Besides, the union is organizing a tiol-level consultation within July at the tiol capital on the issue and launching a series of movements on the demand.”