GUWAHATI, March 3 � The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre has constituted the expert committee to study the viability of the demand for creation of a separate state of Bodoland only to give an election issue to its alliance partner Bodoland People�s Front (BPF), alleged the All Bodo Students� Union (ABSU). Meanwhile, the bandh called by the Abodo Suraksha Samiti today turned violent in different parts of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) area.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, ABSU president Promode Boro said that the student body and many other organisations like the BPPF, NDFB (P), UDPF and the Peoples Joint Action Committee, have decided not to cooperate with the expert committee headed by former Union Home Secretary GK Pillai.
The ABSU president said that the student body suspended its agitation only because of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Higher Secondary (HS) examinations. The organisation would resume its movement immediately after the examinations are over if the elections are not announced by that time, he added.
Boro argued that there was no reason for constitution of an expert committee, adding that though the Justice Srikrishna Committee was constituted to study the demand for Telangana, the Government decided to create the new state without referring to the report of the committee. The report of the Group of Ministers and the Cabinet decision on the creation of Telangana did not mention anything about the report of the committee, he added.
The ABSU president further said that there was no reason for studying the political or economic viability of Bodoland as smaller states depending entirely on Central funds had been created in the past.
Meanwhile, the bandh called by the Abodo Suraksha Samiti turned violent in different parts of the BTC area, forcing the police to use force. Police sources said that police had to use force at Fakiragram Railway Station as the picketers refused to budge from the railway lines despite repeated requests. Some of the picketers even pelted the police personnel with stones.
Similarly, bandh supporters damaged a number of vehicles on the National Highway near Bogribari, forcing the police to fire rubber bullets to bring the situation under control. There were reports of stone pelting from several other parts of the BTC area and police had to use force to disperse the trouble mongers, sources added.
