GwraUB: BTAD violence:a story of silent conspiracy

GwraUB: BTAD violence:a story of silent conspiracy: BTAD violence: a story of silent conspiracy By— Urkhao Gwra Brahma Nobody could imagine that the lynching of 4 Bodo youths on 20th July by ...

REORGANIZATION OF INDIAN STATES AND DEMAND FOR  SEPARATE STATE OF BODOLAND

The process of reorganization of Indian states is a continuous as of now in the constitution. In the constitution of India the Article 2 provides power to the parliament by law to admit into the union, or establish, any area, territory or new states. The article 3 provides power to the Parliament by law for creation of new states by separation of territory of any state, by uniting two or more states, re-demarcation or alteration of boundaries of any states, or alters their names too. After the Independence and between 26 January 1950 and 1 November 1956 India had only four types of division and those were states headed by Governors, states headed by Rajpramukhs, states headed by Chief Commissioners and states as One Territory. From the 1956 Indian territories had been divided in the form of states and Union Territories and till the year 1963, the state of Nagaland was created from the part of Assam, the year 1966 the state of Haryana was created carving out of Punjab and the year 1971 the state of Himachal Pradesh was created, India had only 18 states. But in the year 1972 the states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, in the years of 1973 the state of Karnataka, in the year of 1975 the state of Sikkim and in the year 1987 the Arunachal and Mizoram state were created or upgraded from the status of Union Territory or the Autonomous state and the total no of Indian states became 25. In a major reorganization step in 2000 again three more new states of Chatishgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal had been created and till date there are total 28 states in the country. Significantly, except reorganization of North East states in 1972 and 1987, the major reorganization process of Indian states took place mainly in central zone of the country and after Arunachal and Mizoram were created in 1987, no such reorganization of any state happened in North East India. But the irony of the fact is that the demands for creation of separate state for the plains tribal people of Assam and Kamatapur state were strongly prevalent since and beyond the 1967 itself. In the 1967 the plains Tribal people, mainly Bodo tribe, of the northern bank of the river Brahmaputra under the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal demanded a Union Territory for themselves in the name and style of Udayachal. In due course of time the name of the state kept changing due to changing in concept amongst the different tribe. Some times it was pronounced as Homeland, some times Tribal Land and some times Mishing Bodoland. But with the changes of legacy the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) took over the power of movement for the separate state from 1987 and in 1988, the annual conference of the organization fixed the nomenclature for the new states as the Bodoland. In the phases of time though most of the Indian states have been reorganized the cries for the homeland on the ethnic basis continues to dominate the country’s political and social lives. In compared to any developed countries like USA Indian states are still potentially large and beyond the manageable limit in terms of economy and physical development. The states like Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh are extra ordinarily large, even the state of Maharasthra is unmanageably big in the present form. In principle the Government of India is also agree with the fact that some of the states need to be further reorganized for the convenience of the proper administration. Such necessities are mostly in country’s central zone, partially in southern zone and North Eastern zone also. At this fast changing age to ensure the speedy administration and fair and balanced rule,  the geographical map of the country has to be redesigned and the concept of smaller state has to be adopted as the national policy. Smaller states are always for speedy development and removal of line of discrimination or deprivation and regional disparity.  It also reduces the small nationality or ethnic crisis, strengthen the sense of oneness amongst the people and ensure distribution of powers, resources and privileges in fair and proportionate manner.  In spite of claims made time to time that nation is against any further division of any existing states, the states are bifurcated times and again due to the culmination of  peoples movement..  The dilemma of the nation is not yet cleared over the necessity of reorganization of its states and leaders of the nation have also divided opinion in this regard. The criteria set for the creation of new states or reorganization of any state boundaries also keeps changing according to the time and situation as there is no distinctly established definition with regard to that. Recently the central Government succumbed to political compulsion and proposed for new Telengana state bifurcating present Andra Pradesh. But the proposal for new Telengana state re-fuelled many demands like Bodoland, Gorkhaland, Bundelkhand, Vidharva, Kamathapur and others. Even Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh formally recommended for some more new states carving out of its present territory.  That situation impels the centre to put off the idea of creation of Telengana for the time being. But the Telengana episode reopened the Pandora’s Box and reawakened the subsided issues for the permanent stay. The young and vibrant India of present age envisioned a developed India by 2020 to cop up the vibrancy of other developed nation. But if society is not in peace then no country can flourish and Indian society at the ethnic, community or caste level totally is in turmoil and unrest. Reorganization of Indian states, distribution of their territories with equal manner and conceding state power to every substantially leading group of people or group of communities can only stabilize the society as well as the nation.  Very often politicians dares to deny the historical background and there constitutional and civil rights. They often say that to cop up the need of the time’s one needs to be out and out practical and future conscious. But the fact is that the history cannot be replaced by the any material development only and the people cannot be de-linked by the history entirely. The technological advancement can also only give many new twists to the process of history of civilization but cannot erase its past memoir. Human civilization is a process of people marching from on history to another history and therefore every new history is created out of old histories.  If we go deeper in our analysis about the present cries for homelands in the form of state power we find that historical reasons play a principal role in all such political demands. As for example the Naga history is getting highest priority in present Naga peace process and the history of Telengana is being placed at the first place as the rational view points behind the demand for Telengana.  Today at least more than 50% of the total population of the country including North Eastern region wants reorganization of Indian states and creation of more new states to strengthen the nation building process. The demand for separate state of Bodoland is also a part of that necessity and makes stronger the North Eastern part of the country. The demand for Bodoland has also strong historical background and legitimacy in constitutional and political considerations. If and when the demand for Bodoland state was denied it was only due to arrogance of the ruling clique and also discriminatory attitude only. Every generation of the Bodos are bent to keep alive the issue for every next future till such a situation come where they can feel safe and secured.

HISTORY OF BODOLAND MOVEMENT

The demand for separate state for the plains tribal in the north bank of river Brahmaputra and under the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal was first voiced in 1967. With the emergence of a political party the Plains Tribal Council of Assam (PTCA) on 27^th February, 1967, the demand for Union Territory with the name and style of Udayachal was formally launched to a people’s movement. The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) was the main driving force behind the origination of PTCA and its movement. The immediate reason for such political move came due to announcement made by the then Prime Minister of India Smt.Indira Gandhi before Mizo Union on the 13^th January1967 for the reorganization of Assam on federal basis. The decision was widely welcomed by the then Goalpara District Bodo Students Union (GDBSU), accordingly in a emergent step  the Central Committee All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) was formalized on 15^th February, 1967 and twelfth days after that the PTCA was given birth as mentioned above. The PTCA first submitted memorandum to the then President of India Dr. Zakir Hussain on 20^th May 1967 at New Delhi demanding creation of Autonomous Region for plains tribal people of Assam.  The demand for Autonomous Region was upgraded to the Union Territory on the 7^th January, 1973 with the name and style of Udayachal. In the years 1972-73 the wave of demand for Udayachal ran to the highest level in the hearts of tribal youths as well as the public as a whole. But in the years 1974-75 the Udayachal movement was coincided by the famous Roman Script movement for the Bodo language and it was misunderstood as the same movement for the Udayachal by the Governments at that time. The movement was totally cracked down by the then repressive Governments and then came the National Emergency in 1975-76. The emergency period totally bruised the hearts of the then PTCA leaderships and just to escape from the brutality of the emergency the PTCA leaders stopped all kinds of political activities and suspended the demand for Udayachal also. The wave of Janata Party came after the end of emergency in the country and PTCA leaderships entered into electoral alliance with them in 1977-78. Accordingly Mr. Samar Brahma Chaudhury, the then Vice-president of the PTCA was elected to Assam Assembly and Mr. Charan Narzary, General Secretary , PTCA to the Parliament of India. But in a sudden development the PTCA on 4^th April, 1977 gave up the demand for Union Territory, Udayachal and agreed for Autonomous Region. Since then differences between ABSU and the PTCA began and it led to the total withdrawal of support by the former from the later in the same year. The then leadership of the PTCA totally belied the plains tribal people. The PTCA got split vertically and a section of leaderships organized themselves under a new political party namely Progressive PTCA or PPTCA on 22^nd May, 1979. The PPTCA also demanded for Union Territory with new nomenclature Mishing Bodoland.  Again a convention of all tribal organization held at Harisingha in then Darrang District and  launched a new political party namely United Tribal Nationalist Liberation Front (UTNLF) by dissolving PPTCA on 19^th April,1984. But it is a notable fact that none of those political parties could carry out the movement for separate state for long period due to their inner conflict for the power. Most of the movements declared by those political parties were non-starter and a proved to be a part of game of power politics. The failure of the political parties led the ABSU to be more assertive and pro active also at the later stage as regard to the issue of separate state. Initially after withdrawal of its support from the PTCA the ABSU extended support to PPTCA first and UTNLF later. But both parties had great lack of people’s base and unable to go for practical movement at that time. Even the PTCA was proved to be much stronger in political battle than the PPTCA and UTNLF.  The ABSU was vested with the responsibility of fighting for achieving separate state due to failures of the political parties. The organization submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister of India Smt. Indira Gandhi on 9^th November,1972 demanding a separate state during her visit to Shillong and again its delegation team met her in New Delhi in June, 1980 and discussed in details about the demand. In 1980 itself a delegation team of ABSU submitted same memorandum to the then Home Minister of India Giani Zail Singh when he was on visit to Guwahati. After the 1983 election turmoil in Assam also Smt Indira Gamdhi was met by the delegation team of ABSU and submitted memorandum on demand of separate state. On the 10^th July, 1985 also the organization met the then Prime Minister of India Shri Rajiv Gandhi on the issue of separate state. Before the movement for separate state was launched the ABSU submitted a 92 point charter of demand including separate state to the then Chief Minister of Assam Mr. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta at Janata Bhawan on 1^st January, 1987. Same charter of demand was submitted to the then Governor of Assam and Meghalya Shri Bhisma Narain Singh at Raj Bhawan, Guwahati. Lastly on 22^nd January, 1987 the ABSU had elaborate discussion with the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi on the issues incorporated to 92 point charter of demands. The 92 point charter of demands included the other issues like (a) creation of district councils under 6^th schedule of the Indian constitution for the plains tribal living in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra (b) inclusion of Boro Kocharis of Karbi-Anglong into the ST hills list. All process relating to submission of memoranda to the Governments in regards to the demand for separate state came to an end and from the 2^nd March, 1987 the ABSU came out with the series of practical agitation programmed. As much as the movement gained momentum it drew attention of the world community and Bodo as a community established its identity in the world through this movement. Shri Upendra Nath Brahma now regarded as the father of the Bodos, culminated the movement up to that level that the central government had to initiate dialogue with ABSU in 1990. But Upendra Nath Brahma died due to cancer on 1^st May, 1990 and left the legacy of the movement to his colleague with fresh responsibility. After his pre mature demise the movement couldn’t go long due to various reasons and hence the first part of ABSU movement for separate state of Bodoland came to an end in by the signing of first Bodo Accord on 20^th February, 1993. Consequent to that Accord an Autonomous Council with the name and style of Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) under state act came into being with the power of 40 subjects vested to the Council administration. Just after the formation of the Council war of political power erupted clashed and turmoil sabotaged the entire peace process due to which, the election to the council could not be held even for once. In the year 1996 the first Bodo Accord was denounced and demand for separate state of Bodoland was revived with the submission  of memorandum to the then Prime Minister of India Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao on 19^th March, 1996. The memorandum was submitted with the joint signatures of the organizations like All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), All Bodo Women’s Welfare Federation (ABWWF), All Bodo Employees Federation (ABEF) and Bodoland Statehood Movement Council (BSMC). In a red letter day of the nation on 15^th August, 1996 the then Prime Minister of India Shri H. D. Deve Gowda made a historic declaration about the creation of new states India with special reference to the Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chatisgarh. In view of that new national policy the ABSU launched the second part of the Bodoland movement from the 30^th August, 1996. In its initiative for bringing a dynamic force of inclusive society for achieving Bodoland the ABSU formed an umbrella organization with name and style of Coordination Committee for Bodoland Movement (CCBM). Organizations in BAC regions like All Assam Nepali Students Union (AANSU), All Assam Bengali Student and Youth Federation (AABSYF), Religious Minority Council (RMC),  Koch Rajbongshi Sonmiloni (KRS) joined hands in renewed phase of Bodoland movement under that banner. The CCBM led by ABSU, on 11^th December, 1996 staged a mass demonstration in front of parliament where over 2000 demonstrators took part and from Ram Leela ground to parliament street a powerful rally was took out. On 18^th September, 1997 the Government of India held tri-partite talk with delegation team of ABSU and the Assam Government on the issue of creation of separate state of Bodoland in the north bank of the river Brahmaputra, inclusion of Boro Kocharis of Karbi-Anglong into the ST hills list, creation of autonomous district councils for the plains tribal living in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra. But the talk was empty ended and thus the talk process came to an end during the United Front   Government headed by Shri H.D. Deve Gowda. In1998 general election the BJP was voted to power and Shri Atal Brhari Vajpayee ministry was formed. In the national agenda formulated by the Vajpayee Government issue of Jharkhand, Chatishgarh and Uttaranchal was included but issue of creation of separate state of Bodoland was again left out of the said agenda. On 26^th May, 1998 a second tripartite talk was held in New Delhi including Centre, State Governments and the ABSU leaders to resolve the Bodoland tangle. The talk was presided over by the then Additional Home secretary, Government of India Dr. P. D. Shenoy and represented by Mr. M. S. Pangte, Chief Secretary, Assam. But the talk  was again a total failure due to Assam Government’s vehement oppose to the Bodoland and center’s non committal stand towards every major or minor issues of the Bodos.  The year 1996 was marked with the emergence of new armed outfit of Bodos namely Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT), who’s objective was also like ABSU and the CCBM, i.e the creation of separate state of Bodoland along with other related demands through arms struggle. On the other hand another insurgent outfit of Bodos namely National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), erstwhile Boro Security Force (BSF), was most active since the 1986 in Bodo heartlands who’s demand was secession from India like ULFA and NSCN. The birth of BLT itself was contextually with contrariness to the existence of NDFB. The first Bodo Accord, 1993 was vociferously opposed by the NDFB for obvious reason that the Accord just delivered an Autonomous Council .which is far behind their declared goal Sovereign Bodoland. For the second time the Bodos entered into an Accord by the singing of BLT with the Governments of India and Assam on the 10^th February, 2003 and  in the light of that accord the Sixth Schedule provision of the Indian constitution was amended to enable its extension to plains of Assam also. Consequent to that the Bodoland Territorial Areas District was created under Sixth Schedule of the constitution and six year armed struggle came to an end. The NDFB was neither in support nor in oppose to the 2003 Accord. They kept their movement continued keeping the concept of liberation for following decade. Today they are also in peace talk with the Governments.