GUWAHATI: Railway communication between the Northeast and the rest of the country was severely disrupted on Tuesday with agitating Bodo tribe groups resorting to 12-hour rail blockade at Kokrajhar and Dhekiajuli in Assam to press for their long-standing demand for a separate Bodoland State.
The Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of the NF Railway, P J Sharma informed that running of trains were severely affected as picketers demanding separate Bodoland state blocked railway tracks at Kokrajhar and Dhekiajuli. Many trains including even down Rajdhani Express had to be controlled at various locations.
Getting frustrated at the inaction on part of the BJP-led government at the Centre to resolve the vexed issue over demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam, the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) and its allies, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive) and People’s Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement (PJACBM), have started a fresh phase of movement from today to press for their demand.
“The BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha election promised to resolve the issue of Bodoland state demand if voted to power and got the support from us in the election. But after coming to power in the Centre the party has not done anything concrete to create a new state for us. The situation in Bodoland is now very conducive with militants’ groups in ceasefire mode and supporting the statehood movement, still the Centre has not shown sincerity to exploit the peaceful atmosphere to resolve the issue. We are under pressure from out people to go for intensive agitation again,” ABSU president Promode Bodo said.
The ABSU leader said there had not been a single round of talks with the Central government since April 26, 2017 though the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had assured us to keep the dialogue process going till a solution could be hammered out.
The ABSU leader said if the Union government still continued to remain lukewarm to their demands, they would be forced to launch intensive mass agitation to press for their demands.