GUWAHATI: The Centre’s continued delay in implementing the Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, 2019 has caused resentment among Bodo stakeholders, including All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), a signatory of the historic Bodo Territorial Region (BTR) Accord of 2020 that ensured the return of peace in insurgency-ravaged Bodoland. 

The ABSU and other signatories of the peace accord will stage a protest in New Delhi on November 20 and 21 to press the Centre to implement the pact’s clauses and fast-track the Amendment Bill.

Tribal representatives, political leaders, legal experts, former negotiators and community groups from Assam and across the Northeast will take part in the protest.

The BTR accord marked a watershed moment in the political and socio-cultural landscape of Assam and the broader Northeast region. Central to its envisioned implementation was the proposed Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, which sought to enhance the financial and administrative autonomy of the Sixth Schedule Councils of India. 

Five years have elapsed since the accord’s signing but the Bill remains pending in Parliament, raising critical questions about the pace and sincerity of constitutional reform.

The Northeast has ten autonomous councils – three each in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and one in Tripura – under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is one of them.

Speaking at a seminar organised by Bodoland Foundation for Sustainable Futures in Guwahati on Monday, Pramod Boro, former president of ABSU and former BTC Chief Executive Member, alleged that neither the Centre nor the Assam government was taking the Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill seriously.