GUWAHATI, March 31: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday pledged that the “double-engine” BJP-led government would fulfill all the promises made under the Bodo peace accord “before the year 2022” to usher in permanent peace in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
Four of the 12 Assembly constituencies of BTR will go to the second phase of polls on Thursday while the election in the remaining eight seats will be held in the final phase on April 6.
Addressing a poll rally – his first of the three scheduled for the day – at Bijni in Chirang district as part of the third and final leg of the Assembly election campaign in the state, Shah claimed that two-thirds of the promises made under the peace pact have already been fulfilled in the past six months.”
The Bodo peace accord, the third peace agreement with Bodo rebel groups, was signed in New Delhi on January 27 last year by the Centre with all four factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and United Bodo Peoples’ Organisation (UBPO).
“As many as 2000 rebels have returned to the mainstream with Rs 4lakh provided as rehabilitation grant to each cadre. Ever since the pact has been inked, a commission has been constituted to include Bodo settlements in BTR and exclude non-Bodo settlements from it. Another commission was formed to increase the number of seats under Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). Besides, the Bodo-Kachari Welfare Autonomous Council has also been constituted,” Shah said.
The Union home minister said that the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) has been renamed as BTR; Bodo language has been made the official associate language of Assam while a package of Rs 750-crore package has been sanctioned for the development of BTR.
“Now, we pledge to fulfill all the promises made under the agreement before the year 2022 to usher in peace and development in BTR,” Shah said.
Reiterating the achievements of the “double engine government”, he said that the Centre and the state government have taken Assam to the path of development over the past five years.
“We have fulfilled the three promises of ending atankvaad (terrorism), andolan (agitation) and making Assam developed. But the Congress, during its 15-year-old term in the state, could not do anything… several youths, citizens and policemen were killed during agitation,” he alleged.
Lashing out at the Opposition, Shah alleged that the “Congress-All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) alliance would encourage illegal infiltration and destroy Assam’s identity.”
Taking potshots at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that “Rahul baba, who comes to Assam like a tourist these days, says Assam’s identity is Badruddin Ajmal….but how is this possible…when Assam’s identity is Srimanta Sankardev, Dr Bhupen Hazarika… We will not allow Assam’s identity to be obliterated or influx to be encouraged by the Congress-AIUDF alliance.”