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Dead bodies on the banks of Beki river.
The month of May has brought death and destruction to Muslim villages in western Assam as militants of the Bodo tribe attacked with sophisticated firearms and fired indiscriminately.
The immediate trigger: the Muslims had voted for former ULFA commander Naba Sarania for the Kokrajhar parliament constituency. Sarania is backed by several non-Bodo platforms who oppose creation of a separate Bodo state.
Against Sarania were two strong Bodo candidates — Assam’s Transport Minister Chandan Brahma of Bodoland Peoples Front and former Meghalaya governor and BSF DG R.S Mooshahary. Brahma’s party is for a separate Bodo state and Mooshahary is not opposed to it. But a division of Bodo votes looks like ensuring victory for Sarania — a development, if it happens, may bury the Bodo movement.
But the Muslims of East Bengali origin, who were attacked by the Bodos, are fighting to save the unity of Assam, even though the Assamese hardliners treat them as unwelcome migrants and call them ‘Bangladeshis’.
Security personnel stand guard at site of massacre.
Dead bodies wrapped up in black polythene sheets for cremation.
Their ancestors surely came from what is now Bangladesh — but they have borne the brunt of one violent movement after another by Assamese and tribal groups since the ‘anti-foreigner agitation’ in Assam between1979-85.
BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi has asked these Muslims to be ready to pack and leave by May 16 if he takes over as India’s next prime minister.
Source: BD news24
