Bodo Accord will strengthen Centre, weaken Assam

Senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah in this article encapsulates how the Bodo accord will weaken Assam as Centre has more to benefit from it. In other words, it is the Centre that has gained a much stronger linkage by bypassing the state and creating a much direct linkage with the grassroots.

New Delhi:While there was a lot of focus on the Naga accord or even the pact with the ULFA, the Centre has sprung a surprise by inking an accord with the Bodos on Monday (January 27, 2020) where the Union government, Assam government and an inclusive pool of Bodo leaders were signatories.

It is yet another step that will strengthen the unitary bias the Indian political system has against the extant federal structure.

While it may well be argued that power has been transferred to the grassroots, it has been done so at the cost of the state and to the gain of the Centre. In other words, it is the Centre that has gained a much stronger linkage by bypassing the state and creating a much direct linkage with the grassroots.

A tripartite mechanism comprising a Cabinet-ranked state minister, the chief executive of Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) and a Union home ministry representative will oversee all activities in the Bodoland Territorial Region. This body will meet at least twice a year and for all practical purposes, be the arbitrator of fate for the Bodo region.

If the provisions are to be looked at closely, Bodos, justifiably and deservedly so, will gain more executive, legislative, administrative and financial powers than ever before. On the other hand, the state, besides being subjected to an ‘economic shock’ because of loss of revenue-earning sources, will have to yield much more space than ever before to the Centre.

It has to be remembered that the latest accord is the third in a series, each one progressively a step forward towards delegation of greater autonomy. The first accord with the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) in 1993 led to the creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC). The second in 2003, inked with the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) led to BTC (Bodoland Territorial Region) with much larger powers than the BAC.
Monday’s accord will see a greater region formed by adding contiguous Bodo-dominated areas that will be called the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The new entity will have much more executive, legislative, administrative and financial powers at its behest than ever before including the crucial say in transfers and postings of government officials in the BTR.

The next logical step—demand for statehood may not now be forthcoming. A top Bodo leader Gobinda Basumatary, and one of the signatories to the latest accord, said: “We are satisfied with what has been offered. The new model is almost equivalent to being offered a separate state…We do not think the creation of a new state in necessary now.”

What may have motivated the Centre’s thinking?

In pursuance of its Act East Policy (AEP), that aims at game-changing economic and political relationships with Southeast Asian countries by emphasizing on cultural ties and affinities with Northeast India, the government knows it has to stabilize the narrow land corridor beyond the 22-km-wide Chicken’s Neck land corridor linking the mainland with Northeast India. That is exactly the region the Bodos inhabit.
In that sense, BTR would be the ‘Gateway to the Northeast’ where peace and stability are of paramount importance if plans to reach out to Southeast Asia are to bear fruition.

BTR is located at a very sensitive junction where it is surrounded by foreign countries. A few km north lies Bhutan and towards the South lies Bangladesh.

The Chicken’s Neck itself is a very sensitive zone as far as illegal immigration from Bangladesh is concerned. Places like Koch Bihar are known to be hubs of suspect immigrants from where they spread elsewhere in the country.

For the last two decades, the Bodo outfits have shown a propensity to align themselves with the ruling party. It is a significant feature for a region that has 16 legislative assembly seats in the 126-member Assam state assembly. There is no reason really as to why this trend should not continue.

So a greater say by the Centre in the day-to-day affairs of BTR would have its own political dividends, particularly in the backdrop of anti-Centre rage on the issue of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (anti-CAA).

The accord should, therefore, imply the end of militancy in the region that has seen about 4,000 deaths related to the Bodo movement. But will it?
Certain issues remain. While Bodos may dominate politically in BTR, the population size of non-Bodo people including Assamese-speaking and Adivasi tea community tribes is substantially big and it is they who dominate in numbers in many areas inside the BTR. Therefore, if Bodos cannot carry along non-Bodos with them, the seed for future conflict and problems is obvious.