Media Tagging Bodos as “Militants” Came to an End Today: Pramod Boro

Guwahati, January 30, 2020:

The All Bodo Students’ Union President, Pramod Boro on Thursday said that generalizing the term ‘militant’ with an entire community is far from being ideal.

While speaking at the Arms Laydown Ceremony of a total of 1615 cadres of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the ABSU president said that the entire Bodo community is hurt when the media uses “Ugravadi” in Hindi and “Ugroponthi” in Assamese to refer to them as militants.

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“Bodo Ugravadi in Hindi and Bodo Ugroponthi in Assamese. Media used this term collectively for the Bodos. As a community, it used to hurt us, thinking how an entire community can become Ugroponthi? We were hurt,” said Boro.

He added that in order to remove the tag of militant from the Bodo community, a collective effort was taken and on the Martys’ Day, the NDFB cadres had laid down their arms and decided to walk in the path of peace. This, according to him, is also a step towards ending the usage of the word “militants” for Bodos.

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“Violence and nonviolence are two important things. We were in the middle of violence and nonviolence. We were confused…whether to be violent or nonviolent. Our revolution was going on between the two and the revolution, in turn was used as a means to protect the community as well as to survive. That revolution has come to an end today. The revolution or struggle for rights came to an end with the NDFB Accord,” said Boro.

ABSU president Pramod Boro urged the government to follow the Bodo Peace Accord and support the cadres restart their lives. “It is Assam government’s responsibility to ensure that the students do not take to the streets instead of studying. We want a peaceful society, a violence-free society and a quality society. These will be possible only through peace. Therefore, I hope that the Bodo Peace Accord will help all of us coexist together. We urge everyone to come forward and take part in the process of peace promotion,” said Boro.

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Finance & Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, BTC Chief Hagrama Mohilary and other dignitaries were present at the auditorium of the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) to attend the Arms Laydown Ceremony on Thursday.

A total of 178 arms and 4803 ammunitions were reportedly laid down in the ceremony. Fourteen grenades, along with arms and ammunitions were also laid by 836 cadres of NDFB-P, 579 cadres of NDFB-RD and 200 cadres of NDFB-S.

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