Bodoland bandh hits normal life in Assam

Guwahati: Normal life was parlaysed in Western Assam on Monday following a 12-hour “total bandh” called by Bodo groups for separate Bodoland in Assam.

Bodo groups are unhappy that despite assurances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 general elections to address their demand for a separate state, nothing has happened in the past three years.

Bodo groups are demanding the creation of a separate Bodoland state by carving parts of Western Assam.

To what they called the second part of their agitation, which resumed on August 28 with a 10-hour blockade of national highways, urging the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state to hold tripartite talks.

Mr Pramod Boro, president of All-Bodo Students Union, which has been leading the movement, said that BJP leaders had promised a solution to the issue during the 2014 general election, but turned their back on them after attaining power. Last year, the groups expressed their discontent and called an agitation demanding a separate Bodoland.

Though, Bodo groups had exempted educational institutions from the purview of such strikes in the past, this time they have imposed a ‘total bandh’ with an aim to put pressure for early talks.

“Only emergency services and examinations have been allowed to continue. Business establishments, offices, and banks are closed,” said ABSU general secretary Mr Lawrence Islary.

The strike, which started at 5 am, has affected normal life in the four districts comprising Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and is having an effect in the four-five other districts where there is presence of Bodos. The bandh passed off peacefully as there was no report of any clashes during the bandh.

Over three dozen Bodo organisations under the banner of Peoples Joint Action Committee for Bodoland Movement (PJACBM) are the part of this agitation.