The imposition of Governor’s Rule in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) may impact the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance government in Assam.
State Governor Jagdish Mukh had on April 27 “assumed to himself the administration” of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) that administers the BTAD comprising four districts of western and northern Assam.
The Governor is the constitutional head of a tribal council that falls under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
The five-year term of the BTC expired on April 27. The elections to the council, scheduled on April 4, were deferred because of the COVID-19 pandemic and guidelines for maintaining social distancing.
“Though we are in alliance with the BJP in the State, we are forced to reconsider our understanding. We are looking at other alternatives,” BPF president Hagrama Mohilary said on Thursday, seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda.
The BJP rules Assam in alliance with the BPF and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
Mr. Mohilary had been the Chief Executive Member of the BTC since its creation in 2003 until its dissolution.
The BPF had been insisting on an extension of the council’s term by six months in view of the “unprecedented health-related crisis in India and elsewhere on earth”. But the BJP was in favour of the imposition of Governor’s Rule.
‘Petition filed in HC’
“In this time of emergency, people here need our government more. But instead of extending the term, the Governor has given the charge of BTAD to the Principle Secretary of Assam. We strongly oppose this decision and filed a petition in Gauhati High Court against the order,” Mr. Mohilary said.
The BJP, however, is not worried by the development. “It is their call. We have not said anything about the alliance that can survive without them,” a party leader said, declining to be quoted.
