Bodo groups threaten to intensify protests

SHILLONG: Bodoland movement groups have started an indefinite hunger strike in support of their demand for a separate statehood.
The groups met Sarbananda Sonowal on March 8 when the Assam chief minister assured them an audience with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the press release stated.
The groups threatened to intensify protests in the form of jail bharo, non-cooperation movement and economic blockade if their demands are not fulfilled.
Thousands of people participated in the second day of the strike on Saturday, a press statement issued by the groups on Sunday said.
The groups — All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), NDFB(P) and PJACBM — held a meeting on Saturday despite heavy rain. The venue, however, was shifted because of the rain.
ABSU President Pramod Boro criticised the present government, both at the Centre and in Assam, for being indifferent to solving the problems of Bodos and other indigenous tribes of the proposed Bodoland state.
“BJP promised both written (manifesto) and verbal that they would resolve the Bodos’ problem immediately if they could come to power in New Delhi. It was voted to power and their regime in Delhi has completed three years now. However, the fact is there is no initiative to execute their promise in reality. They have halted the very continuity of dialogue, which apparently means the regime is not willing to resolve the problem,” the press statement read.
It further stated that the groups held several talks with BJP during the UPA regime, but in the last three years of the Narendra Modi government, the Centre took no initiative in resuming talks barring on a few occasions.
The groups had demanded talks at the political level before the budget session but that too did not take place.