Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attends the 24th Bodoland Day celebration at Kokrajhar
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today attended the central programme of the 24th Bodoland Day held at Green Park in Kokrajhar. The programme was organised by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) where the Chief Minister announced several important schemes for the people of BTC and called upon everyone to work together for peace and prosperity in the region.
Sparking on occasion, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma extended his heartfelt greetings to the people of BTC on the proud occasion of the 24th Bodoland Day. On this auspicious moment, he paid rich tributes to Gurudev Kalicharan Brahma and the chief architects of the Bodo movement, Bodofa Upendranath Brahma.
The Chief Minister said that the historic BTC Accord was signed on 10 February 2003 under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister LK Advani, which led to the creation of BTC for the people of Bodoland. He stated that the first Executive Council of BTC was formed under the leadership of Hagrama Mohilary and that the formation of BTC comprising Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri districts brought positive changes to the lives of the people of the region.
He further stated that the establishment of Bodoland University, the Central Institute of Technology (CIT) and Kokrajhar Medical College marked a significant transformation in the education and healthcare sectors of the region after the BTC Accord. Sarma moreover said that the signing of the Bodo Peace Accord in 2020 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah further accelerated the pace of development.
As a result, Tamulpur was declared a new district, Kokrajhar Medical College was completed, and initiatives were taken to begin work on a mini secretariat of Bodoland and Bodoland University campus in Udalguri. Referring to the recent untoward incidents in Kokrajhar, the Chief Minister congratulated the people of BTR for maintaining peace through mutual dialogue and understanding. He thanked Hagrama Mohilary for his strong leadership in restoring peace and allowing the situation to snowball into a major crisis.
He said that although he was concerned about the situation while attending the World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, peace was restored in Kokrajhar as assured by Hagrama Mohilary. The Chief Minister stated that the core objective of the BTC Accord is peaceful coexistence of all communities. He, therefore, mentioned that the Bagurumba dance performed by 10,000 dancers in Guwahati recently was highly praised by the Prime Minister and viewed by nearly two billion people worldwide on social media.
Chief Executive Member BTC Hagrama Mohilary, Minister Public Health Engineering etc Jayanta Mallabaruah, former Minister Pramila Rani Brahma, former BTC Deputy Chief Executive Member Khampa Borgoyary, MLAs Lawrence Islary and Jiran Basumatary, Bodo Sahitya Sabha President Surat Narzary, and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
