Bodoland on the boil over separate state panel, 6 hurt

GUWAHATI: The one-man committee, headed by former Union home secretary GK Pillai to look into the issue of formation of separate Bodoland state, faced stiff opposition from non-Bodo organizations in Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) on Monday - the eve of Pillai's visit to Assam.
Opposing the formation of the panel and creation of Bodoland, the Sanmilita Jonogosthiya Aikya Mancha (SJAM), a conglomeration of 19 non-Bodo organizations, stopped movement of trains through BTAD on Monday as a part of its eight-hour blockade.
Police had to wield batons on protesters who squatted on the tracks at Fakiragram junction in Kokrajhar district. The agitators started occupying the tracks since 8 am on Tuesday. Security forces fired tear-gas shells and restored to blank firing to disperse the crowd when protesters started pelting stones at police. In the melee, one agitator and at least five police personnel were injured.
Though the blockade was for eight hours, security forces managed to clear the tracks by 1pm. Even in places outside BTAD, protesters staged anti-Bodoland demonstrations. However, the blockade disrupted train movement till 1pm. Several long-distance trains like Rajdhani and Bangalore Express were stopped at various stations.
Pillai is expected to visit the state on Tuesday to study the feasibility of a separate Bodoland. While the All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) has called a 12-hour BTAD strike on Tuesday, the Oboro Surakhya Samity (OSS), another non-Bodo organization, has already called a 24-hour bandh in the area from Sunday in protest against creation of Bodoland. SJAM convener Hareswar Barman said the formation of the one-man committee was kind of a "stepping stone" towards the creation of Bodoland.