Guwahati (The Hawk): Hagrama Mohilary, the leader of the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), claimed in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah that there have been numerous reports of Bodo tribal families in Assam being persuaded to become Christians by offering them easy access to government facilities, sometimes against their will.
In a letter that was also addressed to the president of the BJP, J.P. Nadda claimed that Pramod Boro, the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), was in charge of the religious conversion.
According to Mohilary, who recently met senior BJP leaders in Delhi and allegedly made a promise to the saffron party's central leadership, his party would refrain from fielding candidates for Lok Sabha seats. Mohilary also reportedly asked for BPF's entry into the NDA as well as a cabinet berth for the party in the Assam Council of Ministry and CEM position in the BTC.
"Since 2015, my party, the BPF, and I have worked closely with the BJP to support the NDA in Assam. I also backed the NDA's presidential candidate and other Rajya Sabha candidates.
"Thanks to our assistance, the BJP won the 2016 election for Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal. I don't see any distinctions or inconsistencies between the ideologies and goals of the BJP and the BPF. The BPF leader wrote in his letter, "I fully trust and believe in your leadership.
The 126-member Assam assembly currently has three members of the BPF.
Mohilary claimed that despite his best efforts to form a pre-election alliance with BJP, BJP in Assam decided to become friends with the United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) led by Pramod Boro in 2020.
BPF, a former ally of the BJP but now an enemy, rejoined the party in the state assembly in January of this year.
The sixth schedule council of the BTC is under the control of the BJP and UPPL.
In Assam's first BJP-led administration, which was led at the time by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the BPF had three members on the council of ministers.
The five districts of Tamulpur, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, and Kokrajhar make up the Bodoland Territorial Region in western Assam, which is bordered by Bhutan and West Bengal.
(Inputs from Agencies)