Guwahati on edge

According to DM Santanu Thakur, the demonstrators resorted to violent means when shopkeepers, along with All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), refused to respond to an AASAA bandh call. Later, more Adivasis turned up armed with weapons and when police tried to stop them, the mob started attacking policemen.

Thakur said four persons were killed on the spot while four others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.

AASAA has been protesting against the creation of a Bodoland Territorial Council. The Adivasi settlers have been in conflict with Bodo tribals since 1996 when the latter allegedly tried to oust them from the Bodo-dominated areas. Ethnic clashes between the two groups have rendered several thousands homeless in Kokrajhar and Bongain.

Over 40,000 are still living in relief camps, majority of whom are Adivasis. The government has rehabilitated most of the Bodos but there has been problems in settling the Adivasis because most of them were earlier living on encroached reserved forest land.