‘When People’s Wishes Are Fulfilled, Demand for Separate State Goes Away’: Bodo Leader Pramod Boro

New Delhi: This January 27, a tripartite agreement was signed in New Delhi between the Central government, the Assam government and a set of representatives from Bodo organisations.

Termed the third Bodo Accord, the agreement was to further facilitate power sharing and better governance through the autonomous council that exists in the north-eastern state under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution.

Aside from the United Bodo People’s Organisation and the four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a signatory to the accord was the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) leader, Pramod Boro.

On February 14, Boro quit ABSU after 30 years of close association and was all set to contest the next elections for the Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) – renamed the Bodo Territorial Region (BTR) under the new Accord. Though voting was to take place in April, the rules of social distancing brought in to stem the spread of COVID-19 led to postponement. The region, comprising four districts – Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri – has since then been under the state governor’s rule.

Also read: Former ULFA Leader Calls New Bodo Accord ‘Conspiracy’

Boro, meanwhile, joined the United People’s Party-Liberal (UPP-L) and is leading the campaign to wrest power from the Bodo People’s Front (BPF) which has been controlling the BTC since its formation in 2003, under the second Bodo Accord. 

In an interview to The Wire, the popular Bodo leader delineated the plans of his party to usher in good governance at the grassroots level, if elected to power. He said that during the 30 years of insurgency, people had suffered but also held hope for a time when peace would come.

Now that peace has come with the signing of the new accord, he said that common people have been wondering, “What next?  How will our betterment take place?”

Excerpts from the interview are as follows. 

The council has been under governor’s rule since April. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India has stated that it is going ahead with the Bihar assembly polls, to be held later this year. Does it mean the pending elections in the BTC or BTR will also take place soon? Has there been any communication in this regard with the ECI?

If elections take place in Bihar, it will have to happen here too. We are waiting. We keep asking the ECI about it from time to time, and were told that the standard operating procedure will be devised for Bihar assembly polls and then ours, too, will take place. We are demanding that the dates should be announced soon and a few days be given for active campaigning before the voting.

Also read: Modi Aims to Ride Bodo Accord Wave on 3rd Attempt to Visit Assam Since Passing of CAA

You are a signatory to the latest Bodo Accord. This is the third Bodo Accord since 1993. How is this different from the other two peace accords?

There are a couple of differences.

We sought a complete decentralisation of funds from the state government. A lot of lacunae had remained in the other attempts to decentralise the council funds. For instance, the deputy commissioners of all the four districts under the council were answerable only to the state government, not to BTC.

So, what happened was that there was no higher authority to receive any public complaint regarding non-implementation of a government scheme in any department in our area or to carry out the monitoring of a scheme.

Also read: The Unfulfilled Dream of Bodoland is Still a Potent Factor in the Politics of Assam

So, even if certain departments were under the council but if one alleged corruption in a department, common people didn’t have any higher authority to go to. The DC had nothing to do with it. For example, in the MGNREGA job card distribution and transfer of money to beneficiaries within the council area, we have noticed certain anomalies but the affected people don’t know whom to go to other than those very officials of the department who they will accuse of corruption. This will change now as the DCs will report to the chief executive member of the council. 

The second difference is the provision for direct funding of the council by the Centre. Till now, the funds for BTC or any council in the northeast set up under the Sixth Schedule had to be directed through the state governments. But this provision of direct funding will be inserted now in Article 280 of the constitution, which defines the financial relations between a state government and the Centre.

A 125th amendment to the constitution will soon take place to give it effect. The Central government has told us that it will soon be passed in parliament. So, all councils under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution will get the benefit, along with us.

Then, this accord also says that there will be a Bodo Kachari Council outside of the BTR area. There are about 4,90,000 Bodo-Kachari people residing in districts that are outside the council area. This provision will address their rights. Plus, there will be a central university in Baksa, which is a demand since 1986, besides setting up a new National Institute of Design and a National Sports University.

But I must add here that implementation of the Accord is a huge challenge, like all other accords have been. 

You had been heading ABSU for a long time. You are undoubtedly a popular leader in the BTC/BTR area. You had said earlier that you will not enter politics. So why now?

You are right; I had no interest in being a part of active politics. But I have changed my mind.

Look, our area is a poor area, underdeveloped, doesn’t even have basic infrastructure in place. The condition of the roads, the bridges, the schools, the colleges, has been pathetic. These issues of our area have been there since Independence.

There have been certain areas where in the last 74 years not a single pebble has been dropped on the roads. Many of our schools have not been provincialised. There is barely any health facility. There is nothing for employment of the youth, particularly in the rural areas. This has resulted in our rural youth to migrate to prosperous states like Gujarat, Haryana, and Goa, seeking employment.

It is not just the youth alone but many men with families and little children have left for other states in search of livelihood. During the lockdown, we have seen how many of our men are there in different states doing manual labour.  This lack of employment opportunities at home is breaking families; the men go away and the families are left behind with little children and very little resources.

This category of people must have to be provided some amount of economic support. We will have to bring to our area new schemes to involve them. Certain central schemes close even before they reach our area. Easily, 15-20 lakh youth can be given employment in agriculture and allied industries. So, there are a lot of things like that that needs to be looked into urgently.

Also, in the last 30 years, there was insurgency in our area. People were suffering but also kept hoping that good days would come with the arrival of a solution for peace. 

So in January this year, the new Bodo Accord was signed, bringing peace to our area. People are now asking, what is next. How will our betterment take place?

In the last few years, the politics that has been on in the BTC/BTR region has given no space for development of the area and betterment of common people. There was only corruption, deprivation of the rights of common people and an altogether unruly system. So people are eager to see change.

Even if it is not a state and just a council, considerable amount of funds do come to it which I feel can be utilised for common good. Also, what we need to remember is that in effect, the grassroots bodies like the Panchayati Raj were replaced by the council.

So if the council does not work, the lowest rung of our society will have no future. That is the main driving force behind my decision to join politics. I am hoping that if we work with a new vision, certain good things will happen.

Unlike BPF, your party, UPP-L seems interested in inclusive politics, at least that is what one can deduce from the number of non-Bodos that it has given tickets to for the coming polls…

India is a secular country and when we say secular, we also need to recognise that in our area, aside from different religions, there are multi-cultural and multi-linguistic practices. What happens is, say, when there is a movement led by a certain community, the neighbours who are not from that community feel a bit threatened.

To dispel that threat, we have no other way but to come together and do certain things together. If we don’t distribute tickets to people other than the Bodos, that unity will never come.

In the last 17 years, BPF had that scope to take all the Assamese jati-janagusti (communities) into confidence and work for the development of the entire council area. But that was not done, and this has resulted in the alienation of most of these people. 

They now prefer to stay away from the Bodo community. Many have revolted too because of the failure of the BPF to address the issue. This has become a huge problem in our area, the problem of Bodo and o-Bodo (non-Bodos). I feel there is no alternative to taking all the communities along if we need the overall development of our area.

Therefore, we have given such people about 70% of our party tickets.

How many seats will your party contest in, in the coming polls?

We will contest in all 40 seats. All the candidates including me (Boro will contest from Goibari and Kokrabari) have filed our nomination papers and have been accepted by the election office.

There is a general buzz in Assam that the ruling BJP is keen to align with your party even though BPF, the UPP- L’s major competitor in these elections, is a BJP ally at the state level. Is there any possibility of UPP-L entering into any post poll alliance with BJP?

Post poll alliance or understanding is possible with any like-minded party but not before the elections. The criteria would be a party committed to our people. Right now, except Congress and AIUDF, all other players, UPP-L, BPF and BJP are contesting without any pre-poll alliance.

Also, if we get majority, a post-poll alliance with any other party will not be necessary. 

What changes have your party promised to voters?

We couldn’t bring out our party manifesto because of the lockdown. But during our campaign, we have assured good governance to people, and governance free of corruption. This will not be very difficult if there is willingness, because of e-governance. Accountability is possible because many things have been digitised.

We have 3,082 villages within the council, not a very large number. If we link each village digitally, we can assure good governance. If we implement it, perhaps in the BTR, the first full-fledged implementation of digital India would happen. So as a small area, there is a scope for complete digitisation of governance for transparency. This is our first promise to people.

We have also decided to take public complaints through a mobile phone app. They need not go to any office. Additionally, for good governance, we will pass an Act in our Council to set up an office for the local MP (BTR region has one MP from Kokrajhar constituency). In the last 74 years of India’s independence, no MP has a proper office where people can go to meet the MP. People have to use connections to meet a people’s representative or line up in his house. 

In one constituency, there are at least 10 lakh people. These people need the MP for various reasons. The MP is either in Delhi or is at his house. We will build an office for the local MP who must sit there at least three days a month. Similarly, we will have offices within the council premise for all the local MLAs. MLAs will also have to sit in their offices. In a huge democracy like India, voters can’t keep chasing their elected representatives. They will have to sit somewhere where people can find them. We will also have offices for all the council members so that they can receive people’s grievances. 

We will plan to have an information centre for all government schemes including the central ones. We will ensure that central schemes reach our people. People have been deprived. You still can’t enter many villages during the monsoons. Just political independence doesn’t matter to people in the poor areas. Their life hasn’t changed after the British left us. Good governance at the grassroots level will bring change to their lives. We will endeavour to do that.       

The signatories to the recent Accord are also rebel leaders of NDFB including underground leaders like B. R. Ferenga and B. Saoraigwra. What role will these leaders have in the coming BTR elections?

Different leaders of NDFB have joined different parties. For instance, Ferenga and Gobinda Basumatary have joined our party, while Dhiren Boro and Saoraigwra have joined BPF. Their cadres have joined us.

Finally, with the signing of this Accord, is the demand for a separate state of Bodoland dead now?

These kinds of demands grow in a particular situation. When the aspirations of the people are fulfilled, such demands don’t remain.

National leaders will see things in terms of “all India,” but our regional leaders must have an inclusive policy. They must address the aspirations of our people with a time bound plan. In our areas, a small demand would go on for 15-20 years which makes people feel deprived.

For instance, people in our area have been demanding a Bodo-medium directorate for education since 1987. It has finally got fulfilled in 2020 with the signing of the new Accord. If it was done earlier, the Bodo community would have been happy. It didn’t need a huge budget but would have satisfied people that their language and culture would be promoted, and that they have nothing to fear. Just see how many development councils, autonomous councils, Sixth Schedule councils, have to be created in Assam, only because people’s aspirations were not addressed earlier.

Take for instance, state government’s social welfare department. It has a huge role to play in fighting the sense of alienation and deprivation in many communities but it is one of the most neglected departments. That department has a potential to make different communities happy. If we come to power, we will make optimum use of the department. We will ensure that the department officials regularly meet people of various communities to address their problems. They have to feel heard.

Take the example of the Modahi community in Assam. Perhaps it can’t even have an MLA of its own with a below-two-lakh population. But they have certain aspirations too. They have been demanding a cultural centre and few such small things from the government, which can be easily fulfilled. But if that takes 20 years to fulfil, you can imagine the level of deprivation they would feel.

In the BTR area, there are 19 communities. Each has given us their memorandum of demands. I have checked them and realised that barely one or two demands are related to the constitution and are beyond the purview of the council or the state government.

The other demands can be fulfilled, say, within a budget of Rs 100 crores. Finally, all they want is a bit of dignity and recognition. This must be respected.