GUWAHATI: All Bodo organisations and groups have clearly mentioned in the tripartite memorandum of settlement inked in New Delhi on Monday that the territorial integrity of Assam would be preserved and protected even as the accord seeks to grant maximum autonomy to the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), as Bodoland Territorial Area Districts would be rechristened once the pact becomes effective.
Informing this to the media here on Tuesday by Assam Cabinet minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the “historic” accord would pave the way for a “final and comprehensive” solution for lasting peace.
“This accord is different from those of 1993 and 2003 as all stakeholders of the Bodoland movement, including All Bodo Students Union and the four factions of NDFB, are signatories of the memorandum of settlement. This would indeed pave the way for lasting peace in the BTAD area and we are thankful to the centre and the matured,” Sarma said.
The minister further said that all the four factions of NDFB, involving over 1500 cadres, would once and for all lay down arms at a surrender ceremony in either Guwahati or Udalguri on January 30, 2020 in the presence of Assam chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal.
“The Assam government has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to the state on February 7, 2020 to grace the occasion of a historic accord that would preserve Assam’s geographical integrity while granting maximum autonomy to BTR,” Sarma said.
“With the inking of this historic accord, the demand for Bodoland has been formally dropped. A commission led by a retired judge of Gauhati High Court, would soon be appointed by the state government to include the Bodo-inhabited villages contiguous to BTAD in BTR and exclude the non-Bodo inhabited villages, currently in BTAD, from BTR,” he said.
“Representatives of the state government as well as other stakeholders, including non-Bodo organisations, would be given the opportunity to give their views on the inclusion-exclusion process. As such, the accord has been supported by all civil society organisations and would also allay concerns and apprehensions of non-Bodo groups in BTAD,” Sarma said.