Poll time: When Bodo ex-ultras ‘go bananas’

Patai Basumatary, a BA dropout from Bijni, was in the jungles, holding an AK-47 for over four years until he and 2,600 others of the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), surrendered in December last year after the Bodo Accord in February 2003. Today he grows bananas at Gendergaon, in Bodo-dominated Kokrajhar.

‘‘Election for me is something new,’’ said Patai. He is 28, but had missed the past few elections ‘‘because we didn’t believe in the democratic system till last year’’. He has no problem choosing the right candidate too. The All Bodo Students’ Union and the other Bodo organisations which fought for an autonomous state have renominated Sansuma Khungur Bwiswmutiary for Kokrajhar. The BJP and the AGP support Bwiswmutiary too.

Over 100 former BLT cadres have found self-employment in this banana farm set up under the banner of North-east Development Society. ‘‘We are happy that the BJP-led Government at the Centre has given us the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Council,’’ said Patai.

For the Bodos, an autonomous council is only a partial victory. ‘‘Our biggest problem is jobs,’’ said RS MP Urkhaw Gwra Brahma. ‘‘The Bodo areas have only the Bongaigaon refinery. Agriculture can work magic, thus, banana is the first crop we have chosen,’’ Kampa Borgoyari (who was spokesman of the now dissolved BLT).