Rekha Rani Boro

Rekha Rani Das Boro, MLA from Barama and the minister of social welfare will chair the meetings of the monitoring committee, official sources informed.Different Bodo groups including the ABSU, PDF had been demanding dissolution of the interim BAC Council alleging large-scale misuse of funds allocated to the Council.The Bodo leaders made this allegation even in the tripartite talks held with the Centre and the state government.The Union government had asked the state government to inquire into the allegation of misuse of funds by the interim Bodoland Autonomous Council.
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Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Boro said that certain organisations have been trying to create a rift between tribals and non-tribals on the issue of reservation of seats in Assembly, Parliament and local bodies to the indigenous people of the state under the provisions of Clause VI of the Assam Accord.He called upon the people of all the ethnic groups not to be misled by the false propaganda of the vested interest circles. 'No outsider should be allowed to rule Assam and we must ensure that only the indigenous people of the state rule the state," he added.Boro clarified that no one can question whether the sons of the soil including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes, Other Backward Classes, More Other Backward Classes and the tea tribes are indigenous people of Assam or not.He said that the sons of the soil must get the first priority in matters of reservation of seats for indigenous people of the state.The AASU president pointed out that "certain political forces, who are out to support the cause of the Bangladeshi nationals, have been trying to communalise the issue of reservation of seats for indigenous people."He pointed out that reservation for indigenous people is not a Hindu-Muslim question and warned all the political parties and organisations not to communalise the issue for their own political gain.Boro said that the main political parties including the Congress and the AGP have not made their stand clear on the issue of reservation for indigenous people. 'It is the best and last chance for the political parties to gain the support of the indigenous people by extending their support to the issue,' he added.Reacting to the stand adopted by the state unit of the CPI(M), Boro said, "being a tribal youth myself, I can only say that the CPM is an anti-tribal party."The AASU president said that the tribal belts and blocks as well as the reserve forests are the worst affected because of the unabated influx of foreign nationals into Assam.He said that reservation for indigenous people is also necessary to protect the tribal belts and blocks.He demanded that the government should use the Army, it necessary, to evict the Bangladeshi encroachers from the tribal belts and blocks and to hand over the land to the rightful owners, that is, to the sons of the soil. 'The sons of the soil must take the lead to put pressure on the government to evict the Bangladeshi encroachers from the tribal belts and blocks and the AASU would extend its full support to them in this regard."The AASU is also demanding the introduction of the inner-line permit system in Assam to prevent outsiders from grabbing land in Assam.The AASU president said that they met the leaders of the students' unions representing different ethnic groups including the Tea Tribes Students' Federation before submitting the proposal for the reservation for the indigenous people.He said that the AASU leaders would meet the leaders of the organisations representing different ethnic groups soon to remove any misunderstanding.He said that he had informal talks with the general secretary of the All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU), Nathuram Boro on the issue of reservation for indigenous people." Nathuram Boro also admitted that if unabated influx is allowed to continue, the condition of the indigenous people of Assam would be like the condition of the Tripuris, who have been reduced to minorities in their own land."He also said that they had discussions with the Bodo Sahitya Sabha president, Bineswar Brahma, who also admitted the need for reservation for indigenous people.The AASU president revealed that they would hold discussions with other organisations representing ethnic groups in a phased manner, as 'time has come for all the ethnic groups to fight together for the protection of the rights of the indigenous people."Boro said that the next meeting on the reservation for indigenous people would be held next month.He said that as the Assam Accord was passed in the Parliament, it should not be difficult for the government to pass necessary Bill for reservation of seats under the provisions of Clause VI of the Accord. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; April 27, 2000) TopTacit move on to topple Nipamacha ministryIMPHAL, April 27: In a significant political development former Chief Minister and BJP legislature party leader RK Dorendra Singh and Union minister of state for sports and working president of the ruling Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) T Chaoba Singh have reportedly come to a tacit understanding to topple the shaky Nipamacha Singh ministry in May or June, a highly placed source told The Assam Tribune on Wednesday.The source said that RK Dorendra, who has not been able to rock the Nipamacha Singh ministry, seems to be in an undue haste to topple the ministry which has become very unpopular for its various acts of commission and omission.It is also learnt that Union minister Chaoba Singh is understood to have prevailed upon Dorendra Singh to delay the matter for at least one month.His argument is that presently the state coffer is empty resulting in the crisis that the government has been unable to pay the salaries and pension since the month of February this year.
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The Assam government, on April 17, dissolved the interim BAC headed by Kanakeshwar Narzary and constituted an advisory board with minister for social and plain tribes and backward classes' welfare, Rekha Rani Das Boro, as its chairman.The proposal of the Bodo MLAs to quit from the board was moved by the PDF at the Rangia convention."We had already been opposing the BAC and so the question of us accepting the advisory board does not arise.We are not going to compromise on anything less than a separate Bodoland state," ABSU general secretary Nathuram Boro said.The Bodo leaders, at the convention, urged the government to entrust the respective DCs in the BAC areas with full powers and authority to implement all development works."There is no need for any political party leader and instead, the principle secretary to the BAC should be made the programme implementing authority as far as development works are concerned.This advisory board does not seem good enough," Brahma said. (Achinta Borah; The Northeast Daily; Guwahati; May 1, 2000)