BJSM slams Kokrajhar MP for 'anti-Bodo' comments

Our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR, May 8:  The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) came down heavily on Kokrajhar MP Naba Kr. Sarania and said that his comments against the Bodo tribal people were constitutionally baseless. The president of the BJSM, Janaklal Basumatary said constitutionally, Koch-Rajbongshi was neither a community nor a tribe. He said Rajbongshi could not be a tribe. Koch and Rajbongshi were distinctly separate communities with separate language, culture and customs and tradition. He also said it had been decided in 1901 during their Khatriya movement where they were granted Bhanga Khatriyo which they had accepted joyfully.

Basumatary said the Rajbongshis on their own demanded Koch and Rajbongshi to be declared separate castes. He said the Rajbongshis were mixed Bratyo Hindu community Bhatiya Bangali speakers while Koches were Tibbeto Burmese Rabha-like language speakers and distinctly a different community. In Bengal and Assam, originally Koch and Rajbongshi were separately recognized as SC and OBC respectively. In Bengal, Rajbongshis are still Khatriyo Rajbongshi, not Koch Rajbongshi, in Assam they newly adopted Koch Rajbongshi to demand ST status. Even if they change the nomenclature they cannot be ST, because in West Bengal they are SC, he said.

Therefore, historically BTC did not belong to Khatriyo Rajbongshis who were basically Bratyo Hindu Bengalis, he said, adding that they had no connection with the royal race of Koch Behar which belonged to the Mech dynasty, meaning Boro dynasty, not Rajbongshi or Khatriyo Rajbongshi or Koch Rajbongshi.

The tribal leader said the BTC belonged to Boro tribes and the government granted BTC for the Bodo tribes. It did not belong to Koch Rajbongshi because there was no race by the name of Koch Rajbongshi. Thus, their claim of BTC as their land was meaningless and did not hold good in any manner. Therefore, no Kamatapur or ST status could be granted to Koch Rajbongshis, he said, and added that they could not cheat by manipulating their own history and by belittling the great Boro community.

“Naba Kr. Sarania obtained ST certificate as Boro Kachari, how can he say BTC does not belong to Boros? He is traitor and deserves to be punished. He does not know that in Sixth Schedule tribal area administration, no land can be divided with non-tribals,” he said, adding that there was no provision in the Constitution of India. He also said Sarania’s claim of 70/30 division of Bodoland between Boro and O-Boro was meaningless and a sign of his foolishness only. There was no community by the name of Koch Rajbongshi so there was no question of BTC belonging to Koch Rajbongshis.