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Bodo accord has brought peace to BTR, says Amit Shah in Assam
The Bodo Accord, the third peace deal with Bodo rebel groups, was signed in New Delhi on January 27 last year by the Centre with all four factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and United Bodo Peoples’ Organisation (UBPO).
Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that the Bodoland Territorial Region Accord, which was inked a year ago, triggered the process of ending insurgency in the North-east and was able to bring peace to the troubled region in Assam.
The Bodo Accord, the third peace deal with Bodo rebel groups, was signed in New Delhi on January 27 last year by the Centre with all four factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and United Bodo Peoples’ Organisation (UBPO).
“Peace has returned to Bodo areas due to the accord. There used to be killings and abductions here, but I can assure that in a few years, this region will become the most developed part of Assam,” he said while addressing a rally in Kokrajhar, the BTR headquarters, to mark one year of the signing of the accord.
“Several steps have already been taken to implement clauses of the accord. I have come to reiterate the commitments made last year and assure that the Centre and state governments would fulfil all the promises made in the accord,” he added.
He also attacked the Congress for failing to fulfil promises and implement accords.
“If Assam has to be made corruption-free, infiltrator-free, terrorism-free and pollution-free, then only the BJP can do so under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Shah said. Assam is among the five states slated to hold assembly elections this year.
Pitching for another term for a BJP-led government in Assam to “safeguard” the interests of the state, Shah said the Congress-AIUDF combine would open “all gates” to infiltrators if voted to power.
In his first political rally in the poll-bound state, Shah also took a swipe at the Congress for calling the BJP “communal”, and questioned the grand old party’s alliance with the Muslim League in Kerala and the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF in Assam, two regional parties that draw their support mostly from Muslims.
The Congress said that the claim that the BJP ensured peace and stability in Assam by curbing insurgency was a “hogwash” as it is well-known that Congress is credited with the surrender of several ULFA leaders as well as their rehabilitation and bringing peace to the state while the outfit had declared unilateral ceasefire in 2011.
The accord was expected to end the decades-old violent demand for a separate Bodoland state and bring peace to areas dominated by Bodos, the largest tribe in Assam. Soon after signing of the accord, 1,615 cadres of NDFB laid down arms and in March, the outfit disbanded itself.
The deal renamed Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), which included four districts, as the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). Redrawing of BTR boundaries, grant of ₹5,000 crore, rehabilitation of NDFB rebels and naming Bodo as associate official language of the state were also part of the deal.
(With PTI inputs)
