Land rights, social harmony top BPF agenda as it returns to power in BTC
BPF’s Prabin Boro vows land rights, social harmony, and Rs 100-crore youth fund under Hagrama Mohilary's leadership.
BPF chief Hagrama with other members at the meet in Kokrajhar, on Saturday. (AT Photo)
Guwahati, Sept 28: Providing land patta to the indigenous people will be one of the priorities for the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) during its next term in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), said BPF vice president Prabin Boro.
After winning the BTC polls by an overwhelming majority, the BPF vice president said that maintaining harmony among all sections of people of the BTC area would be another priority. “We do not divide people on the basis of religion. The BPF is of the view that all sections people should have equal rights,” he added.
The BPF returned to power in the BTC by winning 28 of 40 seats, while the UPPL won seven seats and the BJP managed to win only five. The Congress failed to open its account. Boro said that in the 2020 elections, the BPF was betrayed by the Government. Being the single largest party, the BPF should have been given the first chance to form the council but the Governor allowed the BJP and UPPL to form the council.
The BPF’s demand for secret voting in the council was also not allowed, he added. He said that the people gave a befitting reply for that betrayal.
Giving reasons for the overwhelming win of the BPF, Boro said that the previous council failed to deliver and the promises made were not fulfilled. He said that though the UPPL-BJP alliance ruled the council, the UPPL virtually surrendered to the BJP and functioning of 16 of the 40 departments of the council were virtually handed over to the State Government.
The Bodo people faced an identity crisis and statements by some of the BJP leaders also made matters worse as the tribal people thought that they would lose their identity.
Replying to a question whether the BPF would take support of the BJP, Boro said, “We have complete majority and we do not need the support of anyone. We have supported the BJP in the Assembly on several issues. If the BJP wants to support us in the council, they are welcome to do so.”
The BPF vice president revealed that immediately after taking over the council under the leadership of Hagrama Mohilary, a Rs 100-crore corpus find would be created to provide assistance to youths who want to become self-reliant and start their own business. Similarly, separate funds would be created for the benefit of women, elderly persons and specially abled people.
By Staff Reporter