Guwahati: With barely hours to go for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in Kokrajhar on Friday for the celebration of the signing of the Bodo Peace Accord, lakhs of people have already crowded the venue at Jangkhritai Pwthar.
A sense of festivity has taken over the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The streets have been revamped with PM Modi posters, National Flag and colourful stalls; women clad in traditional attire and the symbolic Bodo gamusa are on the forefront.
On Thursday night, Kokrajhar town was decked with 70,000 earthen lamps to welcome the prime minister.
According to reports, the Oboro Surakha Samity, a non-Bodo organisation has withdrawn its bandh called for the day after assurance from state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that the government will discuss all the issues of the non-Bodos with them on February 12-13.
Meanwhile, a holiday has been declared in four districts of the BTAD region to welcome PM Modi at 12.30 in a massive rally.
The historic Bodo Accord was signed in New Delhi on January 27 earlier this year with the four fractions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) and United Bodo People’s Organization (UBPO) in New Delhi in presence of Union Home minister Amit Shah.
During the last five years, the Centre has also given a lot of importance to the peace and progress of the northeastern region. Addressing an event on January 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted how the situation in NE states have improved a lot. He said, earlier the region was neglected and was battling extremism where innocents lost their lives in violence.
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Modi said unprecedented plans for the development of the Northeast was initiated by the government in the last five years. He said, dialogue was initiated with all stakeholders with a very open mind and an open heart and the Bodo agreement is the result of it.
Following the signing, 1,615 cadres of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) laid down their arms at a surrender ceremony held in Guwahati on January 30.
The cadres of all four fractions of NDFB – NDFB (Dhiren Bodo), NDFB (Progressive), NDFB (Ranjan Daimary) and NADFB (S) had laid down their arms before Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the arms lay down ceremony that was held at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) auditorium in Guwahati.
The NDFB cadres deposited 178 weapons including AK series rifle, M-16 rifle, 4803 rounds live ammunition, 14 grenades, one 2 inch mortar.
Among the cadres, 836 are from NDFB (Dhiren Bodo), NDFB (Progressive) fractions, 579 from NDFB (Ranjan Daimary) and 200 from NDFB (S) fraction.
This will be PM Modi’s first visit to the state after the massive and violent CAA protests.
