The Bodo Liberation Tigers Force (

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

BLTF), also known as the Bodo Liberation Tigers (abbreviated BLT), was an armed militant group that operated in the

Bodo Bodo may refer to: Ethnicity * Boro people, also called ''Bodo'', an ethno-linguistic group mainly from Northwest Assam, India * Bodo-Kachari people, an umbrella group from Nepal, India and Bangladesh that includes the Boro people Culture an ...

-dominated regions of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The BLTF was founded on 18 June 1996 by

Prem Singh Brahma Prem Singh Brahma (; 1952 – 2007) was the former leader of the Bodo Liberation Tigers Force and deputy chief from 1994 to 1996. He later renounced violence and joined the Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of d ...

and Hagrama Mohilary. Hagrama Mohilary was the chief of the outfit. The group initially wanted to carve out a separate autonomy of

Bodoland The Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) is an Autonomous administrative divisions of India, autonomous division in Assam, India, and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Assam, proposed state in Northeast India. It is made up of five ...

, but surrendered with the establishment of

Bodoland Territorial Council The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is an autonomous council for the Bodoland Territorial Region established under 6th Schedule of The Constitution of India according to the Memorandum of Settlement between Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force ...

, an upgrade of the Bodo Autonomous Council. The leaders of the BLT, together with the leaders of the

All Bodo Students' Union All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and profe ...

, formed a political party called

Bodo People's Progressive Front Bodo People's Progressive Front ( BPPF) is a political party in Assam, India, formed on 12 April 2005 for participation in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District elections. Split The party suffered a vertical split into BPPF(R) with Rabiram ...

Memorandum of Settlement

On 10 February 2003, representatives of the BLTF and the governments of Assam and India reached an agreement and signed a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. 2,641 cadres surrendered and laid down their arms on 6 December 2003 at

Kokrajhar Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an Autonomous administrative divisions of India, autonomous territory in Assam, one of the Northeast India, North Eastern states of India. History Under the Kingdom of Bhutan From the ...

. A vast majority of them were absorbed in the

Central Reserve Police Force The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The CRPF assists states and Union Territories in maintaining law and order and internal security. It is composed of the Cent ...

. On the following day, an interim 12‑member executive council of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was formed in Kokrajhar. The main provisions of the MoS related to "the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council, an autonomous self-governing body within the State of Assam and under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India to fulfill economic, educational and linguistic aspirations, socio-cultural and ethnic identity of the Bodos, and to speed up the infrastructure development in BTC area". The BTC would comprise 3,082 villages in four districts— Kokrajhar and the three yet to be created: Chirang, Udalguri and Baska. The BTC would have 40 elected representatives and the Assam government would nominate six more. Of the elected representatives, 30 seats would be reserved for tribal leaders, five for other indigenous Assamese leaders, and the remaining five would be open for general contest.

References

{{reflist Bodoland Bodo Bodo nationalism Rebel groups in India

Memorandum of Settlement

See also

References