GUWAHATI: The thumping win of former ‘commander’ of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Naba Kumar Sarania who belonged to the pro-talks faction of the outfit, in Kokrajhar (ST) parliamentary constituency in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Council (BTC) areas in Assam may put a spike in the Bodo tribe’s aspiration for a separate Bodoland state.
The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) which is now ruling the BTC and is an ally of Congress, failed to retain Kokrajhar seat as non-Bodo communities opposed to the idea of separate Bodoland State voted overwhelmingly in favour of the former ULFA man who has been seen by common non-Bodo voters as a strong man who won’t be cowed down by the strong arms tactics of the BPF.
The Bodoland state demand as raised by Bodo political parties including the BPF and non-political groups have been opposed vehemently by non-Bodo communities including Muslims on the ground that Bodos are not the majority population in the BTC area though it is the single largest ethnic group in the area. The statehood demand was the core issue in the polls this time and non-Bodos showed their opposition to it by voting for a non-Bodo candidate, Naba Kumar Sarania.
The BPF which is a political party formed by former militants of the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) after signing of Bodo Peace Accord in 2003, won Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009 general election without much difficulty amid unproven allegations of intimidation and rigging during the polls.
The BPF this time gave party nomination to Chandan Brahma, a minister in Assam cabinet led by Tarun Gogoi instead of the sitting MP Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmutiary as the latter has been very vocal in demanding a separate Bodoland state.
The BPF’s decision left the sitting MP Bwiswmutiary fuming and he decided to contest the election as an Independent candidate much to the discomfort of the BPF.
On the other hand influential All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) which has sharp differences with the BPF leadership has extended support to independent candidate Urkhao Gwra Brahma, a former president of the ABSU. This led to division of Bodo tribe votes among the three Bodo tribe candidates on the fray much to advantage of Sarania.
Sarania was supported by All Bodoland Muslim Students Union (ABMSU), a united forum of 23 non-Bodo communities and a faction of All Koch-Rajbongshi Students Union (AKRSU).
All these organisations are opposed to the demand for a separate Bodoland state.
Sarania polled 6,34,482 votes and he defeated his nearest rival U G Brahma (Independent) by a margin of 3,55,779 votes. It is understandable that Sarania apparently did not require votes of Bodo community to win the polls.
There are over 15 lakh voters in Kokrajhar constituency out of which four lakh are tribal voters. Out of the tribal voters 3.25 lakh are Bodo tribe voters while the rest belong to non-Bodo tribes.
About 11 lakh non-tribal voters in the constituency include about three lakh Muslims, 2.90lakh Adivasis, 2.60 lakh Koch-Rajbongshis and rest are Assamese-speaking, Hindi-Speaking, Nepali-speaking and other voters.