Thousands of train passengers were stranded in Assam, north Bengal and Bihar for 10 hours on Monday because of the blockade mounted by the All-Bodo Students Union (ABSU) to demand a Bodo State to be carved out of Assam.
Almost 21 trains of the Northeast Frontier Railway, headquartered in Guwahati, were held up at different stations from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Northeast Frontier Railway said the Divisional Railway Mangers were asked to make available medical and catering facilities to the stranded passengers.
The blockade was also held at Udalgiri, which links Arunanchal Pradesh to the rest of the country, and at Basugoan.
This is the first time the BJP government had to deal with such a large protest for a Bodoland. The movement for a separate State remains one of the most serious and violent in the Northeast. Two tripartite accords — the first one signed in 1993 and the second in 2003 — led to the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Council. On October 3, ABSU members blocked three national highways in Assam.
“The demand for a Bodoland has been raised since 1967. The BJP promised to address the issue during the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2016 Assembly polls, but has done nothing after coming to power. We have sent a memorandum to the Home Minister through the Divisional Commissioner of Chirang and Udalgiri,” ABSU president Pramod Boro told The Hindu .
PTI adds from Tezpur:
The All Bodo Student Union (ABSU), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Progressive), the People Joint Action Committee For Bodoland (PJACBM) besides several Bodo organisations blocked rail movement for 12 hours, disrupting train connectivity in the northern part of Assam since early morning.
Over 20,000 people coming from far-flung areas of both Udalguri and Sonitpur districts joined the programme shouting slogans “No Bodoland, no rest”, “No discrimination against Bodos will be tolerated”, an official said.
The blockade in Udalguri railway station resulted in disruption of rail communication on the Udalguri-Tezpur- Dekargaon, NJP-Rangapara-Naharlagun sections with trains stopped in different railway stations, officials said.
Mr Bodo addressing the protesters here said, “we warn the government that no political conspiracy against Bodos will be tolerated”.
Demanding “safety and right of the ethnic Bodo people and a united Bodo nation”, he accused the NDA government of coming to power with a false commitment of solving the Bodoland issue.
“We the joint group were optimistic of resolving our half century long crisis when the national leadership of BJP raised the slogans of ‘Paribartan’ (change) and ‘acche din aane wala hain’ on the eve of the polls before they came to the power,” Mr Bodo said.
“Believing it, we met the national leadership such as Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Kiren Rijiju repeatedly for the last two and half years. The Bodo organisations also met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal when he was the Union Minister many a time appealing him to resume the tripartite talks with the Bodo organisations for permanent peace and solution to the Bodo issues,” he said.
The government is ignoring and undermining the issues as they are engaging in political conspiracy to exploit the marginalised groups and the communities of the country whom they promised to deliver an equitable governance and justice after more than half century of Congress rule at the Centre, he alleged.
“Since we have contributed to the BJP coming to power we had expectations from the BJP regime that something would be done to resolve the Bodo problem. So we waited for the last two and half years without taking up any agitational programme,” he added.
“We warn the government that no political conspiracy against Bodos will be tolerated”: ABSU
