GUWAHATI: BJP ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), which retained the Sidli Assembly seat in the by-election on Saturday, said it reaped dividends of the existing peace in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
Peace returned to Bodoland, once ravaged by an insurgency movement, following the Centre’s signing of the BTR pact with some extremist groups and the All Bodo Students’ Union in 2020.
Emboldened by the by-election result, UPPL is now upbeat about its prospects in next year’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections. The party managed to retain the seat despite Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) throwing up a tough challenge.
UPPL president and BTC chief Pramod Boro said the prevailing peace in BTR was the reason why people’s acceptance of UPPL had increased.
“There was a time when people were afraid of visiting BTR. Today, a peaceful atmosphere prevails in the region. Convinced that only the UPPL-BJP coalition can ensure permanent peace and development, people supported us wholeheartedly. They could realise that supporting the two parties will strengthen democracy, ensure development, improve education and secure the future of people,” Boro told this newspaper.
“Our development politics has been received well by people. It is late but they have understood that the politics of BPF is about dominating people, cheating them and indulging in corruption. They have also understood that UPPL and BJP are there together to serve them,” he further stated.
Boro said the UPPL-BJP combine, which rules BTC, ensured land and constitutional rights to people they were longing for. He said the two parties were working in tandem to achieve a common goal – developing BTR and ensuring permanent peace.
“I am confident that we will perform very well in the BTC elections next year. People are with us and the result in Sidli showed it,” Boro said, adding, “The by-election result will have a big impact on the BTC elections. I feel BPF won’t be able to win any of the 40 seats.”
He predicted that the NDA parties – BJP, UPPL and Asom Gana Parishad – will sweep the 2026 Assam elections, saying that people have accepted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s leadership.
“Every category of people and community has its support for the chief minister and his leadership. There is now absolute peace in Assam and people are feeling secure. The chief minister’s goal is to make Assam a developed state. After seeing various development initiatives, people have started dreaming about it,” Boro said.