PM Modi to visit Assam on February 7
GUWAHATI | February 2, 2020:
Prime minister Narendra Modi will visit Kokrajhar on February 7 to attend the celebration of the Bodo peace accord, a senior minister said on Saturday.
"GoA has invited Hon PM Sri @narendramodi for his gracious presence at the celebrations for #BodoPeaceAccord at #Kokrajhar on February 7, 2020", Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted.
Biswa Sarma visited Kokrajhar town in Kolkrajhar district during the day to review preparations for the rally to be addressed by Modi.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi"s visit to Kolkrajhar is confirmed," he said.
The minister discussed details of the programme with bodoland Territorial Council chief Hagrama Mohilary, Rajay Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary and All Bodo Student union leaders.
The centre and the Assam government inked a peace agreement with representatives of Bodo organisations on January 27, attempting to put an end to the decades-old Bodo insurgency based on the demand for carving out a separate state out of Assam.
The tripartite agreement announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah provides for economic and political development of Bodos without affecting the territorial integrity of Assam.
The accord is the third Bodo peace agreement to be signed since 1993. The demand for a separate Bodoland is almost five decades old.
As a fallout of the accord, altogether 1,615 cadres of the three factions of separatist organisation National Democratic Front of Bodoland laid down their arms before state Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday. They deposited 178 arms and 4,893 rounds of ammunition.
Modi was earlier invited by the state government to declare open the "Khelo India" games in Guwahati on January 10, but the visit did not materialise.
The news of the Prime Minister not coming to Guwahati for the games came amid the ongoing protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
The All Assam Students Union (AASU), which is spearheading the protests against the new citizenship law, had then warned of mass protests if Modi came here for the games.
IANS
