HT Correspondent
KOKRAJHAR, Dec 16: The indefinite rail blockade programme proposed by various Kamtapuri nationalist parties and organisations at Salakati in Kokrajhar district has been temporarily suspended following an assurance from the Central Government.
Several organisations, including the Kamtapur State Demand Council (KSDC), AKRASHU, JCPA and KPPIU, had been preparing to block the railway track near the Padmabil Lakshmi Temple at Puthiagaon. The agitation was jointly announced by KSDC, AKRASHU, UG AKRASHU, KPPIU, JCPA and other Koch-Rajbongshi and Kamtapuri nationalist organisations and was scheduled to begin from Tuesday morning.
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The proposed rail blockade was aimed at pressing demands for a separate Kamtapur or Greater Cooch Behar state through a swift peace accord with KLO and KLO (KN), granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Koch-Rajbongshi community and constitutional recognition of the mother tongue of the Koch-Rajbongshi and Kamtapuri people.
However, the programme has now been temporarily called off. KSDC Kokrajhar district president Baniram Barman said that the rail blockade was suspended after the Central Government assured the agitating organisations that their leaders would be invited for talks within the next seven days.
The leadership of the agitation warned that if discussions are not held within the stipulated time or if the talks prove to be merely an eyewash, a more intense movement would be launched in the coming days.
It may be noted that on Tuesday, Koch-Rajbongshi organisations had assembled at the Padmabil Lakshmi Temple premises in Puthiagaon with the intention of enforcing the indefinite rail blockade at Salakati railway station. Although the blockade was suspended, protesters raised slogans and staged a strong demonstration at the Lakshmi Temple playground in support of their demands.
