A 12-hour shutdown against life imprisonment awarded to 10 extremists in the October 2008 serial blasts case affected normal life across Assam on Thursday and fuelled demands for a separate Bodoland State.
A special CBI court had on Wednesday handed life sentences to Ranjan Daimari, chairman of National Democratic Front of Boroland, and nine others for the blasts that killed 88 and injured 540 persons. Four others were found to have served twice the five-year term prescribed for crimes they were found to have committed, while another was acquitted.
The NDFB-R called the shutdown in protest against the verdict which it said was discriminatory since leaders of other extremist groups — especially the United Liberation Front of Asom allegedly catering to Assamese sentiments — were let off after committing similar crimes in view of the peace talks.
Transport disruption
The People’s Joint Action Committee for Bodoland supported the shutdown whose impact was felt most in four western and north-central districts governed by the Bodoland Territorial Council. The disruption of rail and road transport affected other parts since Kokrajhar, one of these four districts, links Assam to the rest of the country.
“We are not happy with the judgment, which was biased and partial. It may derail the peace process [with the NDFB-R and the NDFB-Progressive, a faction led by Gobinda Basumatary]... The efforts will go waste if Bodo organisations renew their demand for dividing Assam,” PJACB leader Gorjon Mushahary said.
The demand for Bodoland started in 1967. It morphed into an armed conflict in 1986 after the formation of the Bodo Security Force, which was renamed the NDFB in 1994. It split more than a decade later.
Soon after the verdict on Wednesday, shops and business establishments closed in Udalguri district, the stronghold of the NDFB-R.