THE PRAFULLA Mahanta Government in Assam is pressurising the Centre for a truce with the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). The move comes in the wake of the Centre's decision to suspend anti-insurgency operations against the Bodo Liberation Tigers in order to pave the way for dialogues.
Talking to The Hindustan Times today, a senior Asom Gana Parishad Minister said that the possibility of a ceasefire between the armed forces and NDFB has emerged ever since the latter toned down its demand for an independent Bodoland. Unlike the BLT and other Bodo organisations, the NDFB had been adamant on a Bodo state outside the purview of the Indian Constitution.
The change in the NDFB stand, the Minister said, was effected by the decision of the All-Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) and the Peoples' Democratic Front (PDF) to join hands for the Bodoland cause. The ABSU and BLT are said to be two sides of the same coin, and the PDF is believed to be the political front of the NDFB.
Another theory has it that both the BLT and the somewhat weakened NDFB have realised that their mass base was diminishing as their armed movement had pushed the Bodo-dominated areas back by 20 years. Moreover, fratricidal battles between members of the two organisations - BLT was a frankestein created by intelligence organisations to counter the NDFB - were claiming too many lives.
"We are impressing upon the Centre to announce a truce with NDFB similar to the one with the BLT," the Minister said. "Besides bring peace to the Bodoland Autonomous Council areas, the truce may also help rein in ULFA members who have an understanding with NDFB," he added.
The Minister asserted that Chief Minister Mahanta favoured more autonomy for Bodoland and other area dominated by indigenous people like Karbis and Rabhas. He ruled out statehood for Bodoland though. "If we can demand more powers for the state, there's no harm in giving more powers to the autonomous councils too. But statehood for Bodoland is out of question, and the NDA government has more or less agreed to our argument in this regard," he said.
