GUWAHATI, Jan 9 - The Central and the State Governments have assured to work �sincerely� for a permanent solution to the Bodo political issues. Meanwhile, the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU) has called upon the Centre to arrange for political talks involving all the organisations demanding creation of separate state of Bodoland.
The demand of the ABSU for creation of separate state was discussed in an official level tripartite talk here today. The meeting was chaired by the Joint Secretary (North East) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Satyendra Garg, while senior officials of the State Government and ABSU leaders attended the meeting.
Talking to The Assam Tribune after the meeting, ABSU president Promode Boro said several other organisations, including two militant outfits under ceasefire agreement � NDFB(P) and NDFB(R) � are also demanding creation of a separate state and talks should be held with all the groups together. He said that the ABSU made it clear before the officials of the State and Central Governments that talks should be held at political level so that an early solution can be found. �We also made it clear that we are not opposed to involvement of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) authorities in the process of talks,� he said.
Boro said that during the meeting today, the ABSU called upon the Government to announce a clear-cut policy decision on the Bodoland issue and asserted that a political issue should not be taken as a law and order and development issue. The ABSU demanded talks at the political level before the ensuing Parliament session and protection of the political and other rights of the Bodo people living outside the BTC area.
The ABSU president said that in the talks today, during the tenure of the present government at the Centre, no political level talk was held and the decisions taken in last such talks on February 28, 2014 during the UPA rule are yet to be implemented. �We also told the officials that we are not trouble-makers and the proposed National Highway blockade from today was postponed after we received the invitation for talks,� he said.
Boro said that during the talks, the Joint Secretary of the MHA assured that the Centre was sincere in finding an amicable solution to the Bodoland issue, while the State Government officials said that on its part, the issues that can be dealt with by the State would be looked into soon. He said that certain issues like creation of separate directorate for Bodo medium schools, rights of the forest dwellers, setting up of a cultural complex in memory of Upendra Nath Brahma, etc., can be dealt with by the State Government.
