The Assam government on Tuesday started exercise to defuse the growing tension over the demand of separate states by various ethnic groups by calling All-Bodo Students’ Union and Karbi leaders for talks.
However, normal life remained paralysed for the second day on Tuesday in Western Assam following three bandhs called for Bodoland and Kamtapur.
The trouble-torn Karbi Anglong, where arson and violence broke out a day after the formation of Telengana was announced, has started limping back to normalcy.
ABSU president Pramod Boro, who is spearheading the movement for a separate Bodoland, told this newspaper that the government has approached them for talk through some senior bureaucrats. “We are not opposed to holding talks with the government but we will insist on organising a tripartite discussion with the Central government to look into our demands,” said Mr Boro, who threatened to launch 1,000-hour-long economic blockade in Bodoland Territorial Council to press for the separate state.
He, however, clarified that it will be their last resort.