GUWAHATI, July 15 - Hundreds of farmers today staged a demonstration in the city demanding creation of a separate Bodoland state.
The agitators also demanded of the government to ensure political rights of the Bodo people living outside the proposed Bodoland region in Assam.
�It is a dream and aspiration of farmers of the Bodoland region to live with dignity of labour within the new state. The Bodos are an agrarian society and the agricultural produce can be the economic lifeline for the people of Bodoland. But the farmers of Bodoland region are deprived and discriminated in respect of their due share of benefit from Government of India,� chief convenor of Bodo Abadari (farmers) Nerkhang Khakhalary said.
He said the State government has no policy to uplift the indigenous farmers of the State, for which the economic condition of the agro-dependent tribals is not at par with that of other progressive sections of society even after 70 years of Independence.
�Therefore, we the farmers have a decisive opinion that equality will not be ensured unless the separate Bodoland state is created and we will not only support the Bodoland movement, but also continue with our democratic movement till the Government of India resolves the issue,� Khakhalary said.
