Feb. 9: Barring a last-minute hitch, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), the Assam government and the Centre will sign a new Bodo accord in New Delhi tomorrow to pave the way for creation of the much-awaited Bodoland Territorial Council.
The BLT and the government today reached a consensus on the twin issues of reservation of seats in the proposed council and the right of the Bodo community to contest elections to the three tribal councils of the state.
A 20-member delegation comprising senior BLT leaders and members of other Bodo organisations evaluated the draft memorandum of settlement with chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
The meeting, which was also attended by state health minister Bhumidhar Barman, decided that the proposed council would have 40 elected members and six nominated representatives of different sections of the people.
?Of the 40 seats up for grabs, 30 will be reserved for tribals and five for non-tribals. Five will be open to all categories,? Barman, who also heads the four-member Cabinet committee on the BTC, told The Telegraph after the meeting.
?We accepted the provision to nominate six members, though we had initially requested for five. The state government committed itself to modification of the tribal councils to ensure that Bodos are adequately represented there,? Mainao Daimary, publicity secretary of the BLT, said.
With things going according to plan, members of the Bodo community perked up, but there was still some apprehension about unforeseen hurdles.
Security forces were put on maximum alert in the entire Bodo belt as the All-Assam Koch-Rajbongshi Students? Union called a 12-hour Kamtapur bandh tomorrow and several other non-Bodo organisations announced rallies in different parts of Lower Assam to protest the creation of a new administrative council.
The Kokrajhar district administration, however, refused permission for any rally. Additional companies of paramilitary forces were deployed in violence-prone areas to thwart attempts to disrupt law and order.
The Sanmilita Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti (SJSS), the confederation of 18 non-Bodo organisations opposed to the creation of a new council, had sought permission from the district administration to hold a protest rally in the Adivasi-dominated Srirampur area.
The draft memorandum of settlement, which was passed after a series of discussions involving state and Central government officials and representatives of Bodo organisations in New Delhi, has 15 clauses that cover the whole gamut of issues.
It states that the BTC territory will comprise 3,082 villages. As for the BLT?s demand for inclusion of 91 additional villages in this territory, it has been decided that a tripartite committee will be formed to resolve the issue within three months of the accord being signed.
Safeguards for non-tribals living in the proposed BTC area have been ensured through omission of Para 1(2) of the Sixth Schedule.