Bodo, Non-Bodo Battlelines Drawn In BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Area Districts)

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The battlelines in the BTAD (Bodoland Territorial Area Districts) politics are quite distinct now with the formation of a new political party – the Gana Suraksha Party – on Sunday. The emergence of this party has literally formalized the polarization of the Bodos and the non-Bodos in BTAD, a development that is fraught with clashes in the run-up and during the BTC (Bodoland Territorial Council) election slated for early 2020.

Two-time Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania formed the new party with support from the non-Bodo population comprising around 60 per cent in BTAD. Ever since the formation of the BTC, a sentiment that has been prominent among the non-Bodos in the BTAD is that of ‘the minorities ruling the majorities’. In 2014, Sarania successfully encashed on that sentiment and got elected as an independent MP from Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency, and he retained the seat in 2019 also. After two successive wins, Sarania has his eyes set on the BTC now. He is almost successful in bringing the non-Bodo population – the Bengalees, Nepalese, Adivasis, Koch-Rajbongshis, Muslims, a section of Assamese and others – under one umbrella. He, according to media reports, has even assured the non-Bodos of taking the non-Bodo majority villages out from the BTAD in the event of his party coming to power in the BTC.

Gauging the situation well, BPF president Hagrama Mohilary has been trying to bring all Bodo organizations, including the ABSU and the UPPL, under one umbrella. He, however, is far from being successful. Sticking to their own ideologies, the ABSU and the UPPL have set a condition that their merger is possible only if the BPF is dissolved, paving the way for the formation of a new political party. The Bodos in the BTAD are an aggrieved lot following the polarization of the Bodos and the non-Bodos.

Meanwhile, after his three-tenure rule in a row, BTC CEM (Chief Executive Member) Hagrama Mohilary is naturally facing an anti-incumbency factor. He knows well what kind of a price he will have to pay if he cannot unite all Bodo organizations in the BTAD. Because of the lack of unity among the Bodo organizations, Sarania had the last laugh in the past two successive Lok Sabha elections.

The police, on the other hand, foresee a simmering tension in the run-up to the BTC poll slated to be held by April 2020. Talking to The Sentinel, a top-level police officer of the BTAD said: “We’re apprehensive of clashes between the Bodos and the non-Bodos during the BTC polls. The polarization of the Bodos and the non-Bodos has created a sentiment among the Bodos. The situation is fraught with danger since a section of the Bodo militants are still equipped with arms.”

The BTAD has 40 seats of executive members (EMs), and of them 30 seats are reserved for ST candidates, five for general candidates and the remaining five seats are for open contest.

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