Manipur lesson in Assam tribal council’s peace cultivation

The head of the Bodoland Territorial Council has underscored the importance of letting extremism and ethnic violence remain history

GUWAHATI

Manipur has become a lesson for Assam’s multi-ethnic Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) to not let its history of armed violence and ethnic conflicts repeat itself.

Hundreds were killed across the five-district BTR during decades of pro-statehood extremism and communal violence, primarily involving the dominant Bodos, Bengali Muslims, and Adivasis. The last of such conflicts was in 2014.

“We must be wary of what is happening to Manipur to not let our hard-earned peace go in vain,” Pramod Boro, the Chief Executive Member of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) said at an event in western Assam’s Kokrajhar town to mark the International Day of Peace.

The council rules the BTR, and Kokrajhar is its headquarters about 220 west of Guwahati.

“It is painful that our brothers in Manipur are fighting after living together peacefully for years. The same thing might happen in Bodoland tomorrow if we do not cultivate the peace that has returned to Bodoland after a long struggle,” he said, referring to the BTR Peace Accord the Centre signed with several extremist groups and the All Bodo Students’ Union in January 2020.

About 30 lakh people from more than 20 ethnic and religious communities inhabit the BTR.

“In the last 30-40 years, people across the BTR fought with security forces for their rights. Intra- and inter-community violence left scores of people dead. It was a time when the atmosphere was not conducive to education and farming. People lived in constant fear and the local economy was badly hit. Now that there is peace, all of us must focus on taking Bodoland forward,” Mr. Boro said.

He said peace could have continued to elude the people of BTR if Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had not taken the initiative in 2020.

He said the BTC has been trying to reach the aggrieved sections through the ‘Bodoland Happiness Mission’ that entails training community leaders and the youth to become ambassadors of peace and handle conflict resolution at various levels. “By January 2025, our council intends to come up with a vision document to try and fulfil the aspiration of all the communities,” he added.

“We are happy that those who wielded guns for years are now a part of society. If you had not given up your weapons, peace in Bodoland could have been difficult to achieve,” Mr. Boro told a section of former extremists who were present at the event.

Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who attended the event, said Bodoland was moving fast on the road to peace and progress.

“Restoring peace in Bodoland was not easy. The BTR pact helped end the decades-old Bodo problem. The agreement helped establish permanent peace. Today’s Bodoland is different. It is developing in all spheres,” he said.

Published - September 21, 2024 07:36 pm IST