The UPPL’s candidate for the Kokrajhar (ST) seat in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Joyanta Basumatary, is more than confident he will win. In an interview to GPlus, he speaks of the good that has happened in Bodoland Territorial Region and his plans for the future
GUWAHATI: Joyanta Basumatary, the sitting MLA of Sidli Legislative Assembly constituency and United People’s Party Liberal’s (UPPL) Lok Sabha candidate for the Kokrajhar (ST) seat, believes there will be issues as long as man lives, but the main ones concerning the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) have been resolved over time. Basumatary, who is also a former vice-president of the All Bodo Students’ Union, spoke to Rahul Chanda of GPlus.
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GPlus: Your alliance partner BJP has given only one seat to UPPL, that is Kokrajhar. So, would you say that UPPL is still a small party in Assam?
JB: It’s not about small or big. The thing is that UPPL is a regional party and going by our coalition dharma we chose Kokrajhar which was given to us.
BJP is like our big brother. Since the sitting MP (Dilip Saikia) from Darrang-Udalguri is from BJP, so that constituency was given to them.
GPlus: BJP claims that they have resolved all issues of Bodoland. Do you agree?
JB: No, till the time man lives, issues will be there although our main issue has definitely been resolved. There are issues that still remain to be addressed; issues related to development, according ST (Hills) status to Bodos living in Karbi Anglong; In Kokrajhar, from Bodoland en route to Bhutan, there are several rivers that arise from the Himalayas. These rivers on entering Bodoland cause massive erosion. Stopping this erosion was a clause in the agreement, but that wasn’t fulfilled as well. There are several areas that have turned into deserts due to this erosion. Other than that, establishing universities in the region to develop human resource is another thing that is pending.
GPlus: Most tribal parties in Assam are opposing CAA. So, what is your stand on it? Is your party supporting it due to the alliance?
JB: The nation has already taken its decision on this matter, so, we as citizens of this nation just say that it is about humanity. So, whatever decision has been taken by the nation, we are not against it. In fact, we respect it.
Kokrajhar is not bothered about CAA anymore. Here, within the last 10-15 years there had been several riots among various tribes. There was no peace, but there was extremism. All this has calmed down after Pramodji (Pramod Boro, chief of UPPL) Himanta Biswa Sarma and Modiji took over. This is what matters to the people. Now the people here have peace. Their businesses are flourishing. Schools, colleges are doing well. Every person can flourish due to the peace brought by our leaders. People here care about the development and peace; not CAA.
GPlus: The nomination of Naba Sarania was cancelled. So how much of a benefit was it to you as he was the sitting MP?
JB: See, Naba Sarania could have fought, but due to delimitation, out of 4,80,000 votes he was left with only 60,000.
GPlus: Do you find any competition from the BPF candidate (Kampa Borgoyary )?
JB: No, there is no competition.
GPlus: What are the five changes you want to bring in Kokrajhar?
JB: One thing would be permanent peace. There are forces that want to promote extremism even today. So putting a full stop to that is my aim. Second would be to work towards developing our human resource. Third would be to resolve the river erosion issue. To close the BTR agreement clauses as soon as possible is another thing.
GPlus: By how many votes do you think you will win?
JB: After analysing the entire scenario, I think that I will win with a difference of 300000-350000 votes.
GPlus: What is your calculation about NDA, INDI Alliance in Assam?
JB: 13 out of 14 is a given. But Dhubri is in a triangle. AGP or Congress might get benefitted in Dhubri. So, NDA might get it at last.
GPlus: “Abki baar 400 paar”, how true would you say is this statement?
JB: I think this statement is correct. ‘400 par’ will be attained easily by NDA.
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GPlus: There is a lot of corruption in UPPL-run BTAD, as alleged by BPF. What would you like to say about that?
JB: (Laughs) See, they left a deficit of 3,300 crore. According to the report received, it is clear corruption was done by them.
After NDA, corruption in all of India has gone down drastically. In our area as well, the government has worked beautifully. In one rally we expected 30000 people, but 50000 people actually ended up participating in it. Public trust the government entirely and thus, we will win due to this.
