Kokrajhar, July 15 : The National Democratic Front of Boroland (Progressive) today chose existence as a special administrative region of China rather than accepting the Centre’s move to give more powers to autonomous councils.
Resenting the fact that Bodos and other indigenous people living within the proposed Bodoland area were yet to get full-fledged political autonomy, a press statement issued by the outfit’s publicity secretary, S. Sanjarang, said it would be better for these communities to be a part of a special administrative region in China “if the government of India has only decided to provide more powers to the existing autonomous councils of the region”.
Special administrative regions (SARs) are territories that are not part of mainland China but fall within the sovereignty of the People’s Republic. The two current SARs, Hong Kong and Macau, enjoy a high level of administrative autonomy.
Sanjarang also asked why did the Centre think only about the economic status of tribal people and not their political status? Why had it failed to identify with the legitimate demand for Bodoland? “Why is there constitutional injustice to the Bodos and other tribal people? Is it because the Bodos and other tribal people of the Northeast are of non-Indian origin? Is the political discrimination based on their Mongoloid origin?”
He said they had come across a news item about home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde telling a delegation about the Centre’s plan to give more power to autonomous councils to uplift the socio-economic status of Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast.
Sanjarang said though the past two decades saw formation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council, and its upgrade to the Bodoland Territorial Council, these were only economic solutions, as these councils never ensured total political autonomy for the Bodos. “The Bodo people’s movement was for asserting their political rights. Historically, they were independent and so they want self-rule without interference,” he added, demanding that the Centre should take a bold step and declare formation of Bodoland in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
The NDFB leader said the Bodos had always respected the national flag and the Constitution. “Since the Constitution is the guardian of each and every citizen of India, it should provide equal political status to the Bodos and other tribal people of the Northeast,” he said.
BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, however, said the Centre had no current plans to create separate states but was, instead, planning “to give more power to Sixth Schedule councils for development of these areas, like direct funding and more economic packages”.
He said given the present scenario and policy of the Centre, Bodoland might not be possible in the immediate future, but he did not rule out the possibility of it (the state) becoming a reality one day.
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