In jolt to BJP, BPF sweeps Bodoland council polls, Hagrama Mohilary returns to centre stage

In 2020, though the UPPL and BJP had come together to form the Council after no party secured a majority, the two parties contested separately this time.

With this victory, the BPF has the unrivalled position of being the single-largest party in every Council election since the first one in 2005, including in 2020 when it fell short of a majority by getting 17 seats. However, unlike last time, its commanding win this time means the stage is set for Mohilary to take back his position as the BTC’s Chief Executive from UPPL chief Pramod Boro. Mohilary had also held this position uninterrupted from 2005 to 2020.

However, while the BJP and its NDA ally UPPL have been voted out of power, a BPF-led BTC is set to remain friendly with the BJP-led Assam government. The BPF and the BJP had been allies at the state level since 2016 until the 2020 BTC elections following which the BJP decided to throw its weight behind the UPPL.

Subsequently, the BPF joined hands with the Congress for the 2021 state Assembly elections. However, after the loss of the Congress-led ‘Mahajot’ in the polls, the BPF parted ways with the party and Mohilary has since been known to be on good terms with the BJP and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Mohilary, 56, was one of Assam’s most feared militants, at the helm of the Bodo Liberation Tigers – fighting for a separate state for Bodos, Assam’s largest tribe – until he and his cadres gave up arms to sign the 2003 accord with the Centre and the state government.

The BTC, an autonomous self-governing body under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution – which allows for greater political autonomy and decentralised governance in certain tribal areas of the Northeast – was formed as a result of that accord, and Mohilary had been the indisputable face of Bodo politics ever since.

However, equations began to change with the signing of a new accord in 2020 by the BJP led-governments at the Centre and in Assam with all factions of militant group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) and the United Bodo People’s Organisation.

Soon after, just months ahead of the 2020 BTC elections, then ABSU president Pramod Boro – who was the face of the new accord – joined the UPPL, which had been formed in 2015. Berlao Karjie, who teaches political science at Kokrajhar University, said this gave the UPPL the impetus it needed ahead of the elections, even as the BPF and Mohilary continued to be popular.

“There has also been a pattern with the signing of accords, like the Asom Gana Parishad coming to power in Assam after the signing of the Assam Accord, Laldenga’s Mizo National Front coming to power after signing the Mizoram Accord in 1986. Similarly, in 2020, the accord signatories and the party forming the government in the state came to power. But that was five years ago, and this time the UPPL had to come to power on its own merit. But it has been too dependent on Dispur for its fortunes, and has not been able to work on strengthening its organisational capabilities. And so the BPF, which has always been the largest party in the council, is back again,” Karjie said.

After the 2020 BTC elections, Mohilary’s fortunes seemed to be on the decline, falling behind the UPPL in the 2021 Assembly elections as well. It won four seats as part of the Congress-led alliance, while the UPPL won six in alliance with the BJP. The UPPL also got a member in the Lok Sabha by contesting in alliance with the BJP in the 2024 polls.

With the 2026 Assembly elections looming, BPF vice-president Emmanuel Moshahary said the party is feeling “optimistic”, calling the Council election a “springboard”. “The UPPL is more like a counter-force propped up to oppose Mohilary but it has not been able to counter his popularity and grassroots support,” he said.

With this outcome, the BTC continues to be firmly in the hands of a Bodo regional party, even as the BJP controls the other two Sixth Schedule autonomous Councils in the state – the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council. However, Moshahary said “good relations” with the state government will be essential for the incoming Council, like for all autonomous Councils.

“The funds for the Council comes from the state government, through appropriation Acts. It doesn’t have financial autonomy, control over the police, and many other things. So we need the goodwill of the state government. And our chief is on good terms with the state government, so they will work together,” Moshahary said.

This bonhomie has been expressed by CM Sarma as well after the results. “Hagrama Mohilary came to my residence early in the morning after his win. The BPF is with the BJP, there is absolutely no problem. He said that we will work together,” said Sarma, who attributed the decline in the BJP’s performance to campaigning being halted two days ahead of voting because of Zubeen Garg’s death on September 19.

Conceding defeat, Pramod Boro, who himself won the Goibari council seat, said the UPPL would “support” and “stand with” the Council in “matters of interest of Bodoland’s people.”

“The UPPL was born in 2015 and since then we have been trying to be with the people of all sections. In the last five years, we have received their support too. But maybe we could not understand the people completely, or maybe we could not make them understand us completely. We will examine what that gap is and correct that,” he said.