Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to do what one of his predecessors Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not 17 years ago: personally commemorate the signing of a in Kokrajhar, the hub of a council for Assam’s largest plains tribe.
Mr. Modi’s visit to Kokrajhar will be the first to the State since protests erupted against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) last year. One of the two events in Guwahati that he had been slated to attend — a summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in December — was cancelled because of the protests, while the Prime Minister opted to skip the inaugural programme of the Khelo India Youth Games in January, notwitstanding an invitation from the BJP-led State government.
The anti-CAA protests have been minimal in the four districts of western and north-central Assam that comprise the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The Prime Minister, officials said, was unlikely to face any protests or black-flag demonstrations, which have dogged other BJP leaders including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on their visits to other parts of the State.
Security forces have, however, intensified vigil in Kokrajhar after two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were recovered 225 km to the west of Guwahati, barely 48 hours ahead of Mr. Modi’s scheduled visit.
Assam’s Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G.P. Singh said the IEDs were detected based on the statement of an arrested member of the United Liberation Front of Asom–Independent, headed by the elusive Paresh Baruah.
In a tweet around midnight on Wednesday, Mr. Singh said: “@GhtyCityPolice has made significant recovery of IEDs from Panbazar and Paltanbazar area. These were planted by ULFA to vitiate the peaceful environment in the State. We remain alert to evil designs of nefarious elements.”
Leaders of the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) said volunteers of the union and other civil society organisations have been assisting the administration to ensure a smooth celebration of the signing of the third Bodo Peace Accord.
The first accord, believed to have been toothless, was signed in 1993, while the second, in 2003, led to the creation of the BTC. Mr. Vajpayee, considered the catalyst of the second accord, could not attend the ceremony to mark the formal signing that year.
The ABSU was a signatory to the third accord in January along with three factions of the extremist National Democratic Front of Boroland and the United Bodo People’s Organisation.
The students’ union insisted that the PM’s visit was not poll-oriented. The elections to the BTC are due later this year while the Assembly election in Assam is a little more than a year away.
“It is nothing but a celebration of a historic accord by the entire Bodo society,” ABSU president Promod Boro asserted. “We are expecting more than 5 lakh people for the PM’s programme that is expected to trigger a slew of developmental projects in the Bodoland areas,” he added.