From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Differences between Bodo groups have surfaced over the recently signed Bodo Peace Accord or the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) pact, which is not even a month old, after a top Bodo political leader denounced the accord.
The incumbent Chief Executive Member (CEM) of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in Assam and the leader of the ruling Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), Hagrama Mohilary has dismissed the latest Bodo Peace Accord as a non-entity terming it not capable of bringing about any positive changes for Bodo tribe people in Assam.
The BTC chief’s sudden opposition on the latest Bodo Peace Accord has come as an utter surprise given that he had put his signature on the accord as a witness along with Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in New Delhi in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Bodo Peace Accord, which happened to be third such accord with Bodo tribe community in Assam, was signed on January 27 last among four factions of the banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), Government of India, Assam Government. Influential All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) too put its signature on the accord that promises to bring about lasting peace and rapid development in restive Bodo heartland in Assam.
The latest peace accord is significant because all the active militant groups from the tribe are party to the accord which promises Rs 1,500 crore special package for rapid development of Bodoland areas to be administered by a new administrative body called Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
The BPF led by Hagrama Mohilary came to power in present BTC following signing of the second Bodo Peace Accord in 2003 among Centre, Assam Government and now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) which was headed by Hargrama himself as its armed wing chief.
Meanwhile, former All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) president Promode Bodo, who has just left ranks of the ABSU after signing of the latest Bodo Peace Accord, has criticised Hagrama Mohilary for trying to create confusion among the Bodo masses by expressing his opposition to BTR pact even though he was a signatory to the same as a witness.
“If Hagrama Mohilary is opposed to the BTR pact, why did he sign it as a witness and praised it before Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He is trying to create confusion among people about the accord at this juncture when election to the BTC is round the corner only to gain narrow political mileage,” the former ABSU president said adding that Hagrama is finding himself isolated from Bodo masses. The former ABSU leader, Promode Bodo has taken an initiative to strengthen United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), the arch rival of the ruling BPF in the BTC, post signing of the BTR Accord. NDFB leaders, who signed the BTR Accord are expected to join the UPPL before the next election to the BTC. The development has made the BPF and its chief Hagrama Mohilary in jittery.