Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as the chief minister of Assam for a second consecutive term, along with four other ministers, marking the formation of the third successive NDA government in the state.
The Bodo peace accord which was signed between the Government of India and now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger in February 2003 to pave the way for formation of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts Council is now under question with non-Bodos living in the BTC areas raising objections to it in the wake of Bodo pressing for their demand for a separate Bodoland state.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) took out cycle rallies from the North bank of Brahmaputra River between Kokrajhar district to the west and Dhemaji district to the East to press for their demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
Even as the United Progressive Alliance government in the Centre is finding it hard to find an amicable solution to the raging Telangana statehood movement in the South, the Bodo tribe community in Northeast has revived its long-standing demand for a separate state to be carved out of the state of Assam. K Anurag reports.
In a statement issued to the media and signed by the self-styled deputy chief of 'Bodoland army' -- armed wing of the NDFB -- B Jwngkhang, the militant group alleged that government of India/Assam forces have been killing 'innocent' Bodos in 'fake encounters' branding those as cadres of the NDFB.
The sacked President of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) which is now in truce with Government of India, Ranjan Daimary alias D R Nabla has refused to heed to recognize the new president of the outfit Dhiren Boro and vowed to continue the 'struggle' for 'freedom' of Bodo tribe in Assam.
The Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy, making it an offence which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions.
The Assam government on Monday said that even though they had prior information about an attack on adivasi villagers in Assam by the militant group NDFB (S), the remoteness of location prevented security forces from reaching there in time.
For reasons political as well as social, the Bodo tribe and the agrarian religious minority community have been living for decades in an atmosphere of mistrust under the jurisdiction of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous district Council.
The actual peace talks with the NDFB, whose original demand was for a separate homeland for Bodo tribe, was yet to get off as the outfit took a very long time to submit its charter of demands. "Now that we have submitted the charter of demands to New Delhi, it is now the turn of the government of India to show its sincerity to solve the NDFB problem and restore peace in Bodo heartland in Assam," NDFB spokesman S Sanjarang said.
Electioneering for the third and the final phase of polling in Assam to be held on April 24 in six constituencies - Gauhati, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldoi and Nowgong -- came to an end on Tuesday afternoon with the election department expecting a high turn out on the basis of overwhelming response of voters in the last two phases of polling in the state.
The faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland led by Ranjan Daimary on Friday signed a Suspension of Operation agreement with the Government of India in Guwahati.
The anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland, a Bodo tribe separatist group led by its 'chairman' Ranjan Daimary on Thursday warned that it would kill 20 persons in case the security forces kill one Bodo youth in 'fake encounters'.
Another Telengana is brewing in Assam with the state's largest tribal group, Bodos reviving their old demand for statehood and it is official now, thanks to the raging Telengana movement in Andhra Pradesh.
The Telangana issue has rekindled Bodo tribe's demand for statehood in Assam besides adding fire to the long-standing statehood demands of different other ethnic communities including Karbi, Dimasa, Koch-Rajbongshi.
The movement for a separate state of Telangana in the south is having its repercussion in northeast India too. Now, the Bodoland People's Front, a tribal political group comprising former insurgents, has stated that a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam would be a must if the Centre grants a Telengana state.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union has given an August 13 ultimatum to communicate a date for holding tripartite dialogue on the union's demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
In severe blow to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, 31 militants, mostly from the ranks of the proscribed insurgent group surrendered before the army on Monday.
Bodos, the largest tribe ethnic to Assam, on Saturday hold a massive rally at North Assam tea town Dekiajuli reviving their long-standing demand for a separate Bodoland state and warned that in case the United Progressive Alliance government gave consent to Telangana statehood, Bodoland must also be created.
It was in July last year an unprecedented spell of communal riots broke out in the Bodoland Territorial Council area in Assam, involving the Bodo tribes and immigrant Muslim settlers.
Worried about their security in the strife-torn Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council in Assam, the religious minority community living in the area has demanded that they must not be subjected to 'harassment' anymore in the name of detection of illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
The Assam police and security forces have seized 344 illegal weapons from extremists from the troubled Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council areas in Assam from 2012 to July, 2014.
The winter session of the Assam assembly started on a stormy note on Monday over the issue of availability of illegal weapons in the communally sensitive Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council areas that was rocked by a spell of riots involving Bodo tribe and Muslim communities during July this year that left over 100 dead and rendered about 4 lakh homeless.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday agreed that presence of sufficient forces in time would have prevented the ethnic violence raging in the state from assuming such menacing proportions.
The anti-talks faction of banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a Bodo tribe militant group in Assam has declared a unilateral truce with the government of India, in response to the government's call for negotiations.
Security forces in Assam have intensified operations against the anti-talks faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in the wake of arrest of its self-styled chairman Ranjan Daimary to prevent the rebel faction from striking terror.
Three persons were injured in police firing at Donkamokam, in the violence-ravaged Karbi Anglog Hills district on Friday, even as the army staged flag march in the affected district headquarter town of Diphu.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the Centre would take a decision of further extension of the ceasefire agreement with the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a Bodo tribe militant group in Assam within some days.
Making a statement in the Assam assembly over Thursday's killing of four persons in police firing Assam Cabinet Minister Rockybul Hussain on Friday said that the problem started when police went to evict an illegal camp set up by the NDFB cadres at Bengtol area in Chirang district.
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
The Centre's decision to constitute a one-member panel headed by former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai to consider the demand for a separate Bodoland state has triggered fresh unrest in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council areas of Assam.
A civilian was killed and two army jawans when a group of suspected militants suspected of the anti-talks National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) ambushed an army search party at Amjora village under Kajigaon police station in western Assam's Kokrajhar district on Wednesday.
A militant belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland led by Sangbijit or NDFB(S) was lynched and another seriously injured by a mob at Singimari in western Assam's Goalpara district on Tuesday.
Hapless Adivasi villagers living in remote bordering areas of Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts of Assam stood susceptible to marauding heavily armed National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Songbijit extremists who were desperate to show off their strength to counter sustained, intensified operation against them by the Assam police and the army of late.
Even as the deadline set by agitating All Bodo Students' Union and All-Koch-Rajbongshi Students' Union for announcement of dates for tripartite talks by the Centre over their demand for separate state almost comes to an end, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi to apprise them of the situation back home.
'The violence that shook Assam was a direct outcome of the state's ethnic problem... The tension that created a rift between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for years found a blood-spattered expression.' Former NSG chief Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Kokrajhar, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about last week's carnage in Assam.
Operations were on Friday intensified against NDFB-S militants along the border with Arunachal Pradesh even as the death toll in the massacre rose to 81.
The age-old ethnic fabric in Assam faces a grave risk of being torn apart as many of the major tribes have either raised or renewed their demand for separate state carved out of Assam.
After several days of intensive statehood agitation by various ethnic communities, the situation in Assam limped back to normalcy on Wednesday. Trains services were restored while movement of vehicles including trucks carrying essential commodities resumed on the highways connecting the Assam and the Northeast to the rest of the country.
AFSPA can be safely lifted from almost 90 per cent of Nagaland, argues Shekhar Gupta.
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