GUWAHATI: A day after the women's quota bill was defeated in Parliament, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) on Saturday said any national discussion on delimitation and women’s representation must fully take into account the Northeast’s unique historical, political, demographic, cultural and strategic realities.
After a media briefing in Delhi, UPPL MPs Pramod Boro, Rwngwra Narzary (both Rajya Sabha) and Joyanta Basumatary (Lok Sabha) in a joint statement said the Northeast, despite its extraordinary diversity and vast international frontier, had borne a disproportionate burden of conflict, neglect, fragility and political marginalisation.
“The Northeast should not be a peripheral appendage to be discussed only in the language of last-mile development or the last-man’s progress. It is a foundational civilisational and strategic frontier of India, and it deserves constitutional imagination equal to its importance,” the trio insisted.
They said many of the region’s nearly 200 communities never received adequate or proportionate democratic visibility in the national political system. In several cases, they said, inadequate constitutional and legislative space contributed to alienation and instability.
“If India is serious about durable peace and national integration, then constitutional reform must create room for meaningful political participation by all sections of the region,” the MPs said.
They argued that population should not be the only deciding criterion in delimitation for the Northeast, maintaining that the region’s geographical vulnerability, ethnic diversity, strategic border context, historical conflicts, and constitutional protections require a more sensitive and context-aware framework.
According to them, Bodoland deserves serious national attention, highlighting that with a population of around 40 lakh and home to 26 communities, it requires a more robust and realistic representation structure.
They believed that Bodoland should have three Lok Sabha seats and 30 Assembly constituencies, so democratic representation reflects the region’s size and complexity.
Pointing out that Bodoland is a Sixth Schedule area with a large concentration of Scheduled Tribes (ST) population, they stressed that there is a strong case for increasing ST representation within the relevant legislative arrangements.
“The spirit of enhanced autonomy of the Sixth Schedule Councils must be brought into the centre of the national conversation. A truly inclusive constitutional response must empower the women and communities of all (10) Sixth Schedule Councils of Northeast, while also enhancing their autonomy,” the statement said.
The three MPs called for addressing concerns in Bodoland, arising from the Bodo peace accord of 2020, signed with the government.
They appealed to the Centre, all political parties, constitutional experts, and people of the country to recognise that Bodoland, Assam and Northeast require a special democratic framework within the national constitutional process.
“The Sixth Schedule Councils must receive central consideration in any restructuring of representation, women’s representation must be implemented in a way that expands – and does not diminish – the political voice of small states and protected regions,” they said.
Stating that historical accords and peace commitments must be respected, they added that constitutional reform must become a tool for inclusion, justice, peace and balanced federalism.