Territorial Fears

Leaders of the SJSS also contended that the non-tribal population who would now fall within the BTC would be treated as second-class citizens.

The Bodo leaders, however, dismiss such fears. 8216;8216;The new Council will take care of all sections of people living within its jurisdiction. There is no scope for discrimination. In fact we have two non-Bodo members in the 12-member interim council,8217;8217; says Hagrama Mohilary, chief executive member of the Council.

It was in 1966 that the then influential Plains Tribes Council of Assam PTCA demanded creation of what it termed 8216;8216;Udayachal.8217;8217; Predominantly residents of Kokrajhar district, the Bodos8212;Assam8217;s largest tribe8212;are also found in the northern parts of Barpeta, Nalbari and Kamrup, while the Udalguri sub-division of Darrang is also a Bodo-majority area.

With the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the BT and the government in February this year, the Bodoland Territorial Council BTC has finally been created and will constitute three new districts, Chirang, Baska and Udalguri apart from the present Kokrajhar district. With this, the underground BLT has been also disbanded, with its chairman Hagrama Mohilary taking over as the chief executive member of the BTC.

The demand for a separate state for the Bodos was intensified for the first time under U.N. Brahma, president of the All Bodo Students8217; Union ABSU in 1986, which culminated in an accord in February 1993, leading to creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council BAC. But the Bodos soon realised that the 1993 accord was a mere eyewash and within two years the ABSU declared it null and void.

It was in 1999 that the Asom Gana Parishad AGP suggested the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council BTC by making suitable amendments in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. This schedule to the constitution was the brainchild of Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi, who as member of the Constituent Assembly had worked hard to secure special protective provisions for the tribal communities of the Northeast.

With the AGP government favouring a Council that is short of a separate state, the ABSU which virtually controls Bodo politics, has become an ally of the regional party. It fought the last Assam Assembly elections as part of the AGP-BJP-ASDC alliance and won ten seats on its own, despite the fact that the alliance failed miserably. The four parties on the other hand sent former ABSU president U.G. Brahma to Rajya Sabha last year as their consensus candidate.

Now that the BTC has been created, the Bodos are happy and though they would not openly admit, it is one step forward towards the creation of a separate state. 8216;8216;But the biggest problem now will be to rehabilitate the 2,600 cadres of the disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers. While we are working with the government to find ways to absorb some of them in different security forces including the army, the majority of them will have to find other engagements like agriculture and similar self-employment avenues,8217;8217; said Hagrama Mohilary.

And unemployment is the other big problem. 8216;8216;We will have to get help from various NGOs and other government agencies to identify employment opportunities for them,8217;8217; says ABSU president Rabiram Narzary. The ABSU has already got the Northeastern Finance Development Corporation to introduce cultivation of patchouli, a crop that produces edible aromatic oil and is in much demand in the West.

The other shadows over Bodoland are the opposition of the non-Bodos who fear discrimination and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland NDFB, an underground group that wants a sovereign Bodo state.