Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) terms ABSU’s unification move a high-voltage drama

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KOKRAJHAR: The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) strongly criticized the unification move for uniting the BPF and the UPPL, initiated by the ABSU in association with16 other Bodo organizations as a high-voltage drama. The manch termed the move a partial approach to serve only someone’s interest.

In a statement, the Working President of the BJSM, DD Narzary, said that Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma had declared that the BJP would contest the upcoming BTC election independently without allying with the UPPL, causing concern for the UPPL leaders. Realizing their inability to secure a good number of seats without BJP’s support, BTC chief Pramod Boro and ABSU President Dipen Boro felt it necessary to open dialogue with the BPF leaders in desperation to avoid defeat, he said, adding that the ABSU under President Dipen Boro had to maintain neutral stand and keep away from a party which had lost its credibility, dignity, and the legacy once established by Bodofa UN Brahma.

Narzary said that instead of upholding the spirit of a student movement and Boro nationalism, Boro had reduced the ABSU into the political wing of the UPPL, leading to the perception that ABSU and UPPL were just two sides of the same coin. Further, BJSM accused that Dipen Boro had been acting like an agent of the BJP. Narzary said that during the last Lok Sabha elections, Boro campaigned for the BJP State President Dilip Saikia, even flying in his hired helicopter, while ignoring a Bodo candidate in the fray. Similarly, in the BTC elections of 2020, ABSU under his leadership openly campaigned for Pramod Boro’s UPPL, he said, adding that these glaring examples that Dipen Boro and the ABSU had lost neutrality and moral authority to broker any ‘unification.’ DD Narzary also held Minister Urkhao Gwra Brahma responsible for the political fragmentation among the Bodos. Following the 1993 BAC Accord, when SK Bwiswmuthiary was the chief of BAC and entrusted with implementing the accord, Brahma, instead of extending support, sided with Premsing Brahma and conspired to make him the chief of BAC by ousting SK Bwiswmuthiary and thus began the split in the Boro political party.

Consequently, Narzary said that the ABSU also split into two factions, one led by Garla Bata Basumatary and the other by Swmbla Basumatary, along with UG Brahma. He also said that UG Brahma was responsible for the infighting between the ABSU-BLT and BdSF-NDFB during the period from 1990 to 2003. He said that in the 2003 BTC Accord, instead of supporting Hagrama Mohilary in implementing the historic agreement, UG Brahma advanced his personal ambitions to become BTC chief despite already being a Rajya Sabha MP and that this selfish move triggered the tragic split in Bodo politics, leading to the formation of multiple factions like BPF, BPPF, PCDR, and eventually the UPPL.

Narzary added, “Once the chief architect of division is crying for political unity in BTC with the advice of UG Brahma and Pramod Boro, the so-called unification move is nothing but a meaningless and desperate attempt to save a sinking boat”. According to BJSM, BTC chief Pramod Boro had utterly failed to fulfill his promises to the people made during his tenure.

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