Stop blame game: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) tells Bodo leaders

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) on Tuesday strongly condemned the rampage at BTC Assembly on November 29 by the students of Bodoland University and various colleges. BJSM Working President DD Narzary said that the incident was a direct attack on the democratic parliamentary system and has no place in a civilized society. The protest rally was organized in opposition to the Assam Government’s Group of Ministers (GoM) report recommending ST status to six communities of Assam but shockingly, the rally turned violent around 4 pm and the mob entered the BTC Assembly complex, damaging valuable public properties. This occurred even before the GoM report was officially placed in the Assam Assembly at around 7 pm.

“Attacking the BTC Assembly without knowing the content of the report is not only unfortunate but appears to be a pre-planned conspiracy by the ABSU and the UPPL leadership,” he said, adding that during the rally, slogans were raised accusing BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary of issuing NOC for granting ST status to six communities. He said that the BJSM viewed this rally as a deliberate attempt to destabilize the current BTC government and disturb peace in the region. He also said that after UPPL’s defeat in the recent BTC elections, the ABSU President had publicly declared a series of agitations that appeared aimed at creating unrest.

Narzary said that the BTC administration had already filed FIRs in connection with the violence but that the ABSU President had denied any involvement of the ABSU and blamed the students alone which contradicts the fact that the ABSU and the UPPL supporters used social media to incite a Nepal-like volatile situation in BTC.

“If the students participated under the ABSU’s advice, why is the leadership now denying responsibility?” he questioned. He also said that in 2016, BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary had sent an NOC to the Government of India supporting ST status for the Rajbongshi and Adivasi communities, an action that could not be supported. However, much earlier, in 2006, ABSU itself had issued a resolution to the Rajbongshi community under the signature of then General Secretary Rwn Gwra Narzary, he added. He questioned why Hagrama Mohilary alone was being targeted which according to him was nothing but exposure of the political misuse of the ABSU over the years. In the 2005 BTC election, instead of supporting accord-signatory Hagrama Mohilary, the ABSU sided with UG Brahma, creating political division among the Bodos and since then, the ABSU has been repeatedly used as a political platform, he added.

On the other hand, the CCTOA under Aditya Kaklary, which claims to protect tribal rights, has itself been involved in illegally issuing ST certificates to non-tribal Sarania-Modahi individuals, Narzary alleged, and said that Naba Kumar Sarania, a non-tribal, occupied the ST-reserved Kokrajhar HPC seat for ten years using a fraudulent ST certificate. He said that neither the ABSU nor the CCTOA protested or took any action but that it was BJSM that pursued the legal battle for ten years, finally getting Naba Sarania’s fake ST certificate cancelled and restoring the constituency to genuine Bodo tribal representation. Even in admissions to technical institutions and contests in ST-reserved constituencies using fraudulent ST certificates issued by the Tribal Sangha, non-tribals were benefiting, and yet the ABSU and the CCTOA remained silent, he added. 

The BJSM urged upon the Government of Assam to withdraw the GoM report recommending ST status to six communities in the greater interest of the tribal people of Assam and added that failure to do so may compel the entire tribal population of the state to hold a widespread democratic mass movement.

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