All Bodo Students' Union blames government for 2012 BTAD carnage

GUWAHATI: All Bodo Students' Union (Absu), the apex students' body of Bodos in Assam, believes that the government's negligence led to the ethnic clashes in Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) in 2012. The month-long clashes claimed over 90 lives and rendered four lakh homeless.
On Wednesday, Absu president Pramod Boro, while recording his statement before the one-man commission probing the BTAD violence, blamed the state government for failing to tackle the BTAD violence.
Though the Assam government set up the probe panel a few months after the incident, it took two years to start the public hearing procedure. The panel, headed by Justice (Retd) Mutum B K Singh, started its hearing on Monday and will record the statement of at least 40 persons, including the district administration and police officials. So far, it has taken notes of some 19 of them.
"The home department totally failed to douse the initial spark which led to the massacre. It took almost a week to bring in additional forces. Moreover, the police intelligence failed to anticipate the situation. Being the home minister and heading the unified command structure in Assam, chief minister Tarun Gogoi is responsible for the delay," said Boro, after recording his statement.
Rejecting allegations of initiating ethnic cleansing of minority communities by Bodos in the area, the Absu leader told the panel the organization is not in favour of any kind of violence and wants to fight for their rights in a democratic way.
"Often militants act violently and the community they belong to has to carry the blame. The government has been trying to contain militancy with soft hands. Merely bringing militant groups into ceasefire agreements is not enough. Illegal flow of firearms in the area is still a huge problem," he added.
Absu said illegal influx from Bangladesh is a threat to the ethnic groups of the state. The Gogoi government has admitted to illegal infiltration in Assam.
The All BTC Minority Students' Union (Abmsu) is slated to record its statements on Thursday. The Abmsu claimed its evidence of a criminal conspiracy in the clash.