Ever since the Bodos raised their demand for a separate homeland in the 1980s the region has been disturbed, so it comes as little surprise if once again it is seething in violence. On 5 August a lone gunman reportedly fired indiscriminately at a market place in Kokrajhar killing 14 people and wounding 17. Security personnel gunned him down. Preliminary reports said he was Majay Islari, a commander of a battalion belonging to the Songbijit faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland. Since the killer&’s family was unable to identify the body, a DNA test has been ordered.

In December 2014, six months after the BJP assumed power at the Centre, the Songbijit faction mowed down 76 people in the Chirag area. It is basically the tussle for power between IK Songbijit and NDFB chief Ranjan Daimary (now on bail) that is vitiating the atmosphere in the region. Known for its ethnic cleansing, the Daimary team wants sovereignty.

In the October 2008 serial blasts in different parts of the Bodo area, reportedly masterminded by it, 90 people were killed and more than 150,000 rendered homeless. Some of them are yet to be rehabilitated. Songbijit wants to liberate the Bodo area through an armed struggle and directs operations from Myanmar. He is said to maintain close contact with self-styled Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and also the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim. The other faction is headed by Gobinda Basumatiary, now engaged in peace talks with the Centre.

When the Daimary team was holed up in Bhutan along with the Ulfa, the BJP&’s LK Advani in 2003 persuaded the little known Bodo Liberation Tigers chief Hagrama Mohilary to eschew violence and join the mainstream. Since 2005 he is running the Bodo Autonomous Territorial Council that enjoys autonomy under the Sixth Schedule. But he is not happy and wants a separate homeland.

He feels the BJP is the party that can fulfil his ambition and he is now an ally of the ruling team in Assam . Then there is the All Bodo Students’ Union. It has also revived its demand for a separate homeland after the creation of Telangana. In this uncertain scenario nobody knows what is in store for the troubled region. Now with the winds of change blowing through BJP-ruled Assam it is to be hoped chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will keep his promise to deal firmly with those who perpetrated the recent mindless killings. Sonowal has one plus point  he has the Centre&’s support.