Kokrajhar district in Assam which has long been sitting on a powder keg flared up again. Bodo militants massacred twenty three Bengali speaking Muslims in the belief that they had not voted for their candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. Unaccountably there was a slight time lag. Curfew was clamped down in parts of western Assam following the killing by militants loyal to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-IK Songbijat faction). Militants first raided Narsingbari village bordering Bhutan, about 250 Km west of Guwahati. They came on bikes and fired indiscriminately. A few days ago, another band of militants raided Balapuri village in Kokrajhar. Seven persons were killed. Assam elections were thus disturbed albeit belatedly.
The tragedy in Bodoland which turned violent in the recent past seemed to repeat itself. Militant attacks led to an exodus of Bengali speaking Muslims from Duramar and Dobama areas in Kokrajhar. Bodoland Territorial Council Chief Executive rushed to the affected villages and appealed to the frightened people not to run away. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi appealed for calm and assured people in the area that every possible measure would be taken to frustrate the wrongdoing of miscreants. A Bodoland People’s Front leader said that all was calm till April 23 and his group was confident of getting 80% Muslim votes. But their hopes looked belied. Bodoland has been a hot bed of ethnic and communal clashes and militants have now added fuel to the fire as the minority exodus goes on.