PM Modi to visit Assam on Friday, first after CAA protests in the state

The Prime Minister couldn’t visit Assam in December when the India-Japan bilateral meet scheduled in Guwahati was cancelled due to the protests. His expected visit to the opening ceremony of the Khelo India Youth Games held in Guwahati last month also didn’t happen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kokrajhar in Assam on Friday to take part in celebrations related to signing of the Bodo peace accord last month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam on Feb 7, his first visit to the state anti-citizenship law protests began in the state in December last year.(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

This will be the PM’s first trip to the state after protests started in December last year against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The protests seeking repeal of the legislation, which are still continuing, had claimed five lives in police firing in the initial days.

The Prime Minister couldn’t visit Assam in December when the India-Japan bilateral meet scheduled in Guwahati was cancelled due to the protests. His expected visit to the opening ceremony of the Khelo India Youth Games held in Guwahati last month also didn’t happen.

On Tuesday, senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reviewed preparations for the Bodo Accord celebrations in Kokrajhar along with other ministers and bureaucrats.

“We are excited to welcome PM Narendra Modi to this historic event,” Sarma tweeted.

Senior district officials at Kokrajhar, the headquarters of Bodoland Territorial Council (renamed as Bodoland Territorial Region after last month’s accord), informed that preparations for the Friday event is going on well.

“We are in touch with security officials to ensure that the event passes without any glitch. The preparations are going on in full swing,” said Partha Pratim Majumdar, deputy commissioner Kokrajhar.

Around 4 to 5 lakh people from all the four districts under Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) are expected to take part in the event, which will include a cultural programme of ethnic groups of the state.

“Cadres of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) who laid down arms will be part of the event which will be attended by eminent personalities from the BTAD region,” informed Pramod Bodo, president of All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), one of the signatories to last month’s Bodo Accord.

The Bodo Accord, the third such deal after two earlier ones in 1993 and 2003 was signed at New Delhi on January 27 with leaders of all four factions of NDFB, who were demanding a separate Bodoland state, taking part as signatories.

The deal is expected to bring peace to the Bodo-dominated areas in Assam. With signing of the accord United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I), which is seeking a sovereign Assam, remains the only major banned militant outfit in the state.

Last week, 1,615 cadres of all the factions of NDFB laid down arms in front of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at an event in Guwahati.