Militancy in north-east is no phenomena, but massacre of adivasi tea estate labourers by a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Assam’s Kokrajhar and Somtiput districts claiming more than 70 lives is the biggest and the third incidence in the last two years. Once again the incident shifts focus on the state government’s capability to handle such killings. Is this killings is a retaliatory one after the killing of two NFB cadre few days back. In June this year the Bodo militants killed 30 Bengali-speaking Muslims, most of them Bangladeshis working as labourers. With the recent killing the focus has shifted on Congress-led government of Tarun Gogogi’s capabilities to check such massacres. It also leaves questions open over the coordination of various agencies dealing with the issue. Centre will have to rethink on the strategy to check the growing Bodo insurgency as well as influx of Bangladeshi migrants in the ethnically fragile Kokrajhar which is part of the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Area District. The violent clashes between Bodo and Bangla immigrants have accounted for more than 100 deaths and displacement of more than 4.2 lakh people. The centre has dispatched additional forces to the region but that is no solution. What is needed is Centre, State governments and security agencies to rework afresh to curtail re-occurrence of such sectarian killings and providing a foolproof mechanism of countering the inflow of Bangladeshi Muslims, which had remained one of the most contagious issue as far as normalization of situation in north east region is concerned. Re-occurrence of such killings would put question marks on the survival of Congress-ruled state of Assam where BJP has a minister of state for Home in Rijiju in Centre. Before it is too late state government would have to take steps to counter any backlash from Bangladeshi immigrants.
