Assam: Former insurgent leader turned politician plans hunger strike seeking Bodo council elections

Former insurgent leader-turned politician in Assam, Hagrama Mohilary will sit on a hunger strike soon with a demand for early elections to Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which has been postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

This despite the fact that Assam health department is against holding elections before December due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the state government wants to wait for Bihar elections being conducted amid the pandemic and based on the experience there, Assam would decide about BTC polls.

"Sarma is not the state election commission. I will sit on a hunger strike and seek election soon. We have already moved Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in this regard," Mohilary told reporters in Kokrajhar, the headquarters of BTC, where he took out a procession seeking elections.

Mohilary, who headed the BTC since its formation in 2003 till his term ended on April 4 this year heads the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), an ally of the BJP-led government in the state.

The procession raised many eyebrows as social distancing norms were blatantly violated by Mohilary and his supporters.

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi took over the BTC, an autonomous council set up under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution after its term ended on April 4. The council is still being administered by the Governor, which appointed Rajesh Prasad, an IAS officer as an administrator.

Mohilary, who headed Bodo Liberation Tigers, a militant group, which was disbanded in 2003 following the signing of Bodo Accord, won the election and became its chief the same year. The government, however, signed "a new and comprehensive" Bodo Accord in December last year with all other Bodo groups including four other militant groups. Most of the leaders, who signed the new Bodo Accord joined United People's Party Liberal, another regional party and are eyeing to unseat Hagrama in the next BTC polls.