Maoists, Kashmiri militants should follow Bodos' path to quit violence: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Maoists, Kashmiri militants and those in rest of the Northeast should follow the Bodo youths in Assam, who decided to quit the decades-long path of violence and joined the mainstream by signing an accord with the government.

"Be it in the left wing extemist affected areas or in Jammu and Kashmir or all other groups in the Northeast, who still believe in the path of violence, in guns, bombs and pistols can learn from the Bodo youths and take inspiration to leave the path of violence. Let me tell one thing that violence has never brought any success, neither has it solved any problem. So I appeal everyone today to leave the feeling of enmity and come forward to join the mainstream of society and family life," Modi said while addressing a massive crowd at Khargaon-Tengapara in the outskirts of Kokrajhar in western Assam.

The rally was organised to celebrate the new Bodo Accord, which was signed with all groups representing the Bodo community including all four factions of insurgent group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) on January 27. A total of 1,615 members of NDFB had laid down their weapons on January 30 and decided to join the mainstream.

The accord promised to exclude several non-Bodo villages from Bodoland Territorial Council's ambit and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts into Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). It also promised a special package of Rs. 1,500 crore for development in BTR in the next three years, establish several new higher educational institutes, accord associate official state language status to Bodo language, beside others.

Kokrajhar, situated about 200km west of Guwahati was the epicentre of the insurgency, which was launched by NDFB in 1986 with a demand for a sovereign country for the Bodos, the second biggest community in Assam. More than 4,000 people including security forces, civilians and militants died during the insurgency.

An accord was signed in 2003 with Bodoland Liberation Tigers led by Hagrama Mohilary, who now heads the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), having four districts. Former deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had also attended a similar celebration in 2003.

CAA impact:

Stating that a section which does not want the good of the Northeast was spreading rumours that a large number of migrants will come to Assam for citizenship through the Citizenship Amendment Act. "Nothing of that sort is going to happen," Modi assured.

Two scheduled visits of the PM were aborted since Assam erupted in protest and violence against the CAA in December. Indigenous communities in Assam and rest of the Northeast fear that CAA would reduce them into minorities by giving citizenship to a large number of Hindu Bengali migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.