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Fears of fratricide in Bodo heartland

Sushanta Talukdar

The fight for political space has the potential to trigger a new, fierce battle.

THE BODO heartland in Assam is bracing for a fresh bout of fratricidal clashes between the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), which has disbanded. The NDFB is currently in a ceasefire agreement with the Centre and the former BLT militants rule the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

The spark for the turf war came from an attack on an NDFB camp at Medaghat in Lower Assam's Baksa district on March 26. Two NDFB militants were killed and three others were injured. The NDFB alleged that the attack was carried out by former BLT militants. Refuting this, BTC chief executive member and the former BLT chief Hagrama Mahillary described the incident as a reaction of the general public. The public, he said, was fed up with the NDFB's extortion drive in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The Medaghat attack was followed by the killing of a personal security officer of a BTC executive member at Kumarikata bazaar under Tamulpur police station limits of the same district on March 31. The unidentified gunmen also snatched away the PSO's service pistol.

Terming the incident the handiwork of the NDFB, Mr. Mahillary challenged the rival militant group to a gun battle. The NDFB, on the other hand, distributed a leaflet accusing Mr. Mahillary's Bodoland People's Progressive Front (Hagrma), a coalition partner of the ruling Congress, of raising a new militant outfit called Bodoland Royal Tiger Force. Arms training was being imparted to cadres in remote areas of Baksa, Kokrajhar, and Chirang districts, the NDFB charged. It also accused the former BLT rebels of trying to provoke the NDFB into pulling out of the ceasefire and said "our patience may run out."

The situation in Bodoland is tense as neither group appears to be in the mood for reconciliation despite appeals by organisations such as the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS). On April 1, the BPPF (Hagrma) launched a campaign urging businessmen not to buckle under the NDFB's "extortion demand." The NDFB too organised peace rallies.

The revival of the rivalry between the two outfits is being seen as the fallout of the delay in the talks between the Centre and Dispur. The former BLT rebels seem to be wary of losing political space to the NDFB in the event of any new accord being reached with the Centre.

The BLT was disbanded and its cadres came over-ground after the signing of a new Bodo Accord with the Centre and the Assam Government in 2003 paving the way for creation of the BTC, an administrative set-up under amended provisions of the Sixth Schedule. The BTC replaced the erstwhile Bodoland Autnomous Council (BAC), which had come into existence in 1993 following the signing of the first Bodo Accord by the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU).

The NDFB entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Centre on May 24, 2005. The agreement came into effect on June 1 that year and some armed NDFB cadres along with some top leaders moved from their hideouts in jungles into designated camps set up by the Government in BTC areas. The Centre had set a March 31 deadline for the outfit to submit its demand charter, but the NDFB said there was no need for such a charter as its demand for "sovereign Boroland" was known to the Centre.

While direct peace negotiations are still elusive, NDFB leaders have been moving out of the camps and appealing to the public to support the cause of a "sovereign Boroland."

The BPPF (Hagrma) was not worried as long as the NDFB campaign was confined to the outfit's traditional stronghold in Udalguri. However, the NDFB slowly began moving into Kokrajhar, making use of the tug-of-war between two BPPF factions — one led by former BLT leaders and other by the former ABSU president, Rabiram Brahma. The NDFB's foray into Kokrajhar, considered a bastion of the erstwhile BLT, has worried the present BTC rulers.

Meanwhile, the BPPF (Rabiram) and other Bodo organisations such as the ABSU, Bodo Women's Justice Forum, and the All Bodo Peace Forum have condemned the attack on the NDFB designated camp and rallied behind the outfit.

The fight for political space in the Bodo heartland has served to ignite the old rivalry between two diametrically opposite political forces. Ordinary Bodo people fear that if the Centre and the Assam Government fail to make any timely intervention, the prevailing situation has the potential to push the Bodo areas to the days of fierce fratricidal clashes of 1998-2000. It could also shatter the hope of bringing back permanent peace to the area.

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