A Union home ministry team which visited the violence-hit areas of Western Assam has identified “land” as the root cause of the unrest, but also blamed the Tarun Gogoi-led state administration to reacting very slowly to the simmering tension, which later turned violent.
It noted that the local ethnic Bodo community had been extremely worried over mounting pressure on land from people migrating from neighbouring districts, and that this tension had increased in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas since July 6.
The immediate cause of the violence was the lynching of four former Bodoland Liberation Tigers boys on July 20, the MHA team said, but it added the state government was not sincere in its attempts to stop the carnage.
While the state sought additional forces from the Centre, the home ministry noted it had advised Assam to use the 90 companies of paramilitary forces at its disposal, relocating them if needed. The state administration, however, instead of mobilising forces available within the state, kept waiting for 74 additional companies to be sent from West Bengal, Nagaland and Tripura, sources said. The MHA team’s report also pointed to serious lapses by the police and civil authorities in handling the situation on the ground.
The sources said while the Centre had rejected outright the All India United Democratic Front’s plea to dissolve the Bodoland Territorial Council, it was considering the demand for a CBI probe into the violence.
Union home minister P. Chidambaram will visit the violence-hit areas for two days starting Monday, and review the situation in the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Dhubri and Bongaigaon. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who as Union home minister in 2002 had signed the Bodo accord, which led to the BTC’s formation, will also visit the affected areas on Monday.
With the situation slowly returning to normal, curfew was relaxed for the day on Sunday in Western Assam. The MHA has advised the state to take initiative to restore confidence between the two communities.