Demand for separate Bodoland intensifies after Telangana

Days after the UPA Government gave its nod for the formation of Telangana, the Bodoland Members of Parliament staged a protest outside the Parliament here on Monday for creation of a separate state.

"Today we have deiced to stage a demonstration in front of the main gate of the Parliament House to raise the long pending demand for the creation of a separate state of Bodoland so that the people of the whole nation may come to know about the Bodoland. Bodoland demand is a very very ancient demand, very genuine demand, much decade old demand. It is very must justified, legitimate and democratic right of the Bodo people of Assam," said Bodo People Front (BPF) MP Sansuma Khunguur Bwiswmuthiary.

Bwiswmuthiary further said if the UPA Government headed by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh can give its nod for the formation of Telangana then it should also take a decision to create a separate state of Bodoland.

"We want similar kind of justice, equitable kind of justice. We would like to urge upon the Government of India to take appropriate positive political decision to create a separate state of Bodoland carving out of the present state of Assam in order to help ensure survival and existence of the Bodo people," he added.

Another Bodo People Front MP Biswajit Daimary said that they would raise their demands for a separate state of Bodoland in the Parliament.

"We are staging a protest here and want to raise this issue in the Parliament.

They are giving Telangana then should also give us Bodoland. Why they are showing the sympathy to Telangana people and not us," he added.

The Bodo People Front has also sent a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to raise the issue in the House.

Thousands of people of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) gathered in Assam's Kokrajhar town yesterday, and slogans 'No Bodoland, No rest' and 'Divide Assam 50:50'.

The All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) has called for a 60-hour shutdown in Assam to press its demand for a separate Bodoland state.

The trains services to the northeast in Bodoland have been disrupted due to the shutdown called for separate statehood.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said that people have the right to agitate, but no one can take laws into their hand.