[Assam] NDFB's noble gesture @ risking survival of Bodo identity.

[Bartta Bistar]

NDFB builds sovereignty base

- Outfit claims ‘Boroland’ will be a multi-racial territory

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050820/asp/guwahati/story_5134440.asp

 

Serfanguri (Kokrajhar), Aug. 19: The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) today unveiled its roadmap for a “multi-racial sovereign Boroland” and a 31-page manifesto that purports to correct the “wrong policies” of the past.

Blaming “preceding Bodo leaders, organisations and political parties” for the continuing unrest, the militant group’s leadership said during a public rally here that they were trying to evolve a consensus on the demand for sovereignty before starting negotiations with Delhi.

The NDFB said without naming anyone that several Bodo organisations and political parties had “kept themselves aloof from the people”.

Defining its policy as “the way that effectively solves a problem”, the militant group said: “There is nothing in the world that cannot be solved th-rough a policy. Every problem has its solution if it is handled in a realistic way…What we have to do now is to rectify the incorrect policy that our preceding leaders had adopted.”

The NDFB said other Bodo organisations and their leaders “promised to save and liberate the Boro people and their ancestral territories, but treacherously betrayed them and left them to be exploited, dominated and assimilated by the aliens”.

Elaborating on its vision of a “sovereign Boroland”, the outfit states in its manifesto that people are wrongly assuming this to be a territory exclusively for the Bodo community. “There is no country in the modern world that is not a multiracial one and Boroland shall not be an exception to this. The NDFB is not against any caste, creed, community or religion. We have respect for every caste, creed, community and religion. People of any community or religion shall live in sovereign Boroland, but their living there should not be at the cost of our land and identity. In other words, their living within Boroland should not be at the cost of a Boro nation.”

The NDFB, which signed a tripartite ceasefire agreement with Delhi and Dispur on May 24, has been holding a series of public meetings in the Bodo-inhabited districts. The outfit’s leaders interacted with representatives of various Bodo organisations at Jaraguri, near Gossaigaon, in Kokrajhar district yesterday and Udalguri, Sonitpur and Baksa before that.

The next stop is Chirang, after which the NDFB think-tank will head for Dhubri district. A rally will be held in Kokrajhar town on August 28.

Among those who attended today’s meeting were NDFB secretary-general Govinda Basumatary, “Boroland army” chief B. Sushrangra, deputy commander-in-chief B. Olongbar, finance secretary B. Detsung, cultural and natural resource secretary M. Gerema and Sunil Basumatary.

Some members of the All Bodo Students’ Union and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha were also present. The outfit intends to arrange meetings with leaders of the student union, which has considerable influence on the community, and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha.

“Till now we have not talked to them, but we are trying to do so. We hope it will materialise soon. We want to work together for a fruitful result,” the NDFB secretary-general said yesterday

 

 

 

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