Peace in the upper banks of the Brahmaputra

The common man can be pardoned for asking why the government had to sign yet another peace accord with the Bodos of Assam to settle a bloody armed struggle.

The common man can be pardoned for asking why the government had to sign yet another peace accord with the Bodos of Assam to settle a bloody armed struggle. But the third memorandum of settlement has the potential to bring lasting and permanent peace in the Bodo-dominated areas of the state, which have witnessed insurgency since the eighties.

For one, this is the first time that all Bodo stakeholders, overground or underground, are signatories to the peace deal. Not only did all the factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, a powerful militant outfit that initially waged an armed rebellion for secession but later agreed to accept a solution within the Constitution, sign the accord, even the All-Bodo Students’ Union that has been leading a peaceful agitation for decades was on board. The main demand of the ABSU and NDFB groups was a separate state for the Bodos. The new agreement, as also the earlier ones in 1993 and 2003, falls short of this demand for statehood but the signatories can hope for a great deal of autonomy.

The latest pact also removes some flaws of the first two. For instance, under the 2003 agreement many areas under the Bodoland Territorial Council had no Bodos living in the area or very few at best. This did not go down well with other communities falling under the council area. Another drawback of the 2003 deal was that it did not protect the interests of Bodos living outside the council area. The new accord seeks to fill both these major gaps. The 2020 deal also enhances many executive powers of the Bodoland council and this is expected to significantly increase its autonomy.

Lastly, the new accord also promises to give the Bodo language an associate official status. This is significant as Bodo assertion, before it passed into the hands of the ABSU and the militants, was first started by the Bodo Sahitya Sabha in the mid-sixties. Let us hope all the parties sincerely implement the settlement in letter and spirit so that the guns fall permanently silent in the upper banks of the mighty Brahmaputra.

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