The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) has temporarily postponed the proposed merger between the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). ABSU president Dwipen Boro formally announced this during a press conference on Sunday. He stated that the merger process could not succeed due to the absence of BPF leader and former BTC Chief Executive Member Hagrama Mohilary from the discussions.
Addressing the media, Dwipen Boro said, “Hagrama Mohilary repeatedly stated in the media that he wanted to hold talks, and ABSU took up that responsibility. Accordingly, we moved forward with 16 community-based organizations. However, we are deeply disappointed that Hagrama Mohilary did not participate in the discussions in person.” He further added that the merger process could resume after the upcoming BTC elections if the situation becomes favorable.
With only a few months left for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections, ABSU had initiated efforts to unite the two political parties to prevent the division of Bodo community votes. This move was also aimed at strengthening the political position of the Bodo community in the face of the growing influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the region. According to ABSU’s president, the student organization had taken this initiative with the support of various Bodo community organizations, but the lack of a positive response from Hagrama Mohilary led to the failure of the merger.
However, Hagrama Mohilary himself had previously acknowledged that ABSU’s leadership had met him to discuss the merger. In a recent statement, Mohilary questioned ABSU, asking, “What is the formula for the merger?” In the same statement, he set a condition for UPPL, stating that they must break their alliance with the government, after which BPF would contest 20 seats and UPPL the other 20.
Notably, the Pramod Boro-led UPPL is currently in alliance with the BJP at both the state and central levels. However, for the upcoming BTC elections, the BJP has decided to contest independently, without continuing its alliance with UPPL. Meanwhile, BPF has already announced its candidate list for 22 constituencies out of the 40 seats in the BTC elections.
