UDALGURI, Feb 14 – Thousands of people took out a protest rally holding placards in Udalguri town on Tuesday under the aegis of Bodo Women Justice Forum, Bodo People’s Committee for Peace Initiative (BPCPI) and Society for Indigenous People’s Rights (SIPR) demanding National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) chairman Ranjan Daimari’s early release, after the special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sentenced him to life imprisonment in the October 30, 2008 serial bomb blasts case in the state.
Protestors rented the air with slogans ‘No Ranjan, No Vote’, ‘No Ranjan, No Rest’. Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the protest, Bodo Women Justice Forum (BWJF) chairperson Anjali Daimari accused the saffron party of ‘discrimination’ with the insurgent outfit.
“There are several other organisations in Assam which killed people but they were let off. The NDFB which is in peace talks with the Government of India has to suffer the biased, partial attitude of the government,” she said. Anjali alleged that the leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) received a ‘grand welcome’ upon landing in the country while on the other hand, Ranjan was brought to India from Bangladesh ‘tied with an iron chain’. “The life imprisonment verdict will harm the peace and harmony that the Bodos want in the region,” she added. She further said, “We have never seen in the Indian democracy that the chief of a rebel group has been sentenced to life imprisonment when a peace-talk process with the Centre is under way.”
