United People’s Party Liberal president Pramod Boro on Wednesday said the UPPL would oust the ruling Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) from the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and form a government “for the people, by the people and of the people”.
“We want to form a government for the people and not for the leaders. Our objective is to bring transparency and accountability in governance,” Boro said at a UPPL joining ceremony at Tamulpur in Baksa district on Wednesday.
Baksa is one of the four districts, the others being Kokrajhar, Udalguri and Chirang, in the BTC-governed Bodoland Territorial Area Districts.
Boro, former president of the All Bodo Students’ Union, said his party had a manifesto of unity, peace, progress and development.
He said the situation in the BTC was ripe for change, especially after the signing of the Bodo Accord that promises peace, progress and development in the trouble-torn region.
The Bodo belt has been marked by insurgency and intermittent violence between ethnic Bodos and immigrant Bengali-speaking Muslims.
The ethnic and communal clashes in 2008 and the communal riots in 2012 left over 100 dead and 4.85 lakh displaced. The 2014 carnage in Nonke-Khagrabari and Narayanguri villages under Gobardhana police station in Baksa left 38 dead and many homeless.
Rasidul Ali, 48, a rickshaw-puller from Nonke-Khagrabari village who migrated to Guwahati after the carnage, believes that ethnic disputes can finally be set aside after the Bodo pact and, more importantly, after the disbanding of the insurgent National Democratic Front of the Boroland (NDFB) whose leaders are either contesting the BTC polls or backing the contesting parties.
A member of the UPPL steering committee for the polls, who hails from Udalguri, said, “While political parties arise out of ethnic divisions, the people helping our campaign come from all ethnic groups. Together, we are showing it’s time to value unity in diversity. This time, the elections are going to focus on development and stability in the Bodo belt and not just on unfulfilled promises. This election will focus on the new generation which wants something other than deep-rooted corruption and misgovernance in the Bodo belt.”
“We are not trying to be just the next government. If our party wins, our priority will be to create an environment for peace, progress and development where everyone will have the right to live with dignity.”
Sarania Kachari Development Council chairperson Dipak Deka Sarania, who joined the UPPL with 200 others on Wednesday, believes that Boro was instrumental in bringing the Bodo stakeholders to the negotiating table which resulted in the Bodo pact and would fulfill the hopes and aspirations of every community residing in the Bodo belt.
According to him, there have been no major eye-catching developments in the Bodo belt during the three tenure of the Hagrama Mohilary-led BPF.
BJP to go it alone
The BJP has decided to try its luck and go it alone in the stronghold of its ally, the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF) in the BTC polls scheduled to be held on April 4.
The party held a meeting at Goreswar in Baksa district on Wednesday, presided over by Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, the leaders and party workers from the 40 BTC constituencies of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri along with Assam minister for irrigation (independent), Bhabesh Kalita, BJP MP Dilip Saikia, Golakganj BJP legislator Ashwini Rai Sarkar and Assam BJP general secretary Pulak Gohain among others.
BTC chief and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) president Hagrama Mohillary had earlier claimed that his party would tie up with the BJP in the BTC election.
The BPF romped to power in BTC council in 2015 for the third time winning 20 out of 40 seats. The BJP opened its account in the council with one seat.
