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| AAMSU activists block NH31 at Gossaigaon on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos |
Kokrajhar, June 6: Nearly 30,000 people today blocked National Highway 31 at Padmabil in Gossaigaon subdivision of Kokrajhar demanding exclusion of non-Bodo villages from the Bodoland Territorial Council.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded for over three hours because of the highway blockade led by the All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) and All BTC Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU).
The demonstrators shouted slogans against BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary and scrapping of the BTC Accord like “BTC go back” and “Hagrama murdabad”.
A memorandum was also submitted to chief minister Tarun Gogoi through the deputy commissioner wherein it demanded that Assam should not be bifurcated. It also stated that the non-Bodo villages should be excluded from BTC for providing employment opportunities based on the population pattern in the area.
The memorandum also stated that the March 25, 1971, should be taken as base year for the NRC update to solve the D-voters issue in the state. It also stated that the killings, kidnappings and extortion should be stopped in the BTC region and demanded that the militant groups under ceasefire pacts should be kept in the designated camps.
AAMSU Kokrajhar secretary Anowar Hussain came down heavily on both Mohilary and Gogoi alleged that the killings and extortion continued unabated in the region.
The president of the union’s Kokrajhar unit, Rafikul Islam, said the minority people were facing various problems in the BTC region and Assam as a whole.
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