New chapter in Bodo history

March 14: Scholars burning the midnight oil to unearth Bodo history are thanking Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Hagrama Mohilary, who has assured them of every possible help in reconstructing Bodo history and bridging the geographical divide between indigenous groups.
“The council will provide whatever help is required. I hope more scholars will study Bodo history to help forge a strong bond of friendship among Bodo groups scattered across the world,” Mohilary said on Wednesday, at the end of a four-day workshop-cum-seminar. It was organised by the Bodoland Citizens’ Forum to reconstruct Bodo history and held on the Kokrajhar campus of Gauhati University at Debargaon.
A World Bodo Historical Society was formed with noted historian Hiracharan Narzinary of West Bengal as its president and Kokrajhar MP S.K. Bwismutiary as its secretary.
As many as 42 scholars of the greater Bodo groups, including the Meches from Nepal, Kokboroks from Bangladesh and Tripura, Sonowal Kacharis, Mech Kacharis, Garos and Dimasas, besides the Bodos of Assam and West Bengal — all united by a common history — attended the workshop-cum-seminar.
After the seminar, the resource persons and scholars were handed specific details on Bodo history and requested to submit their research papers later. The forum’s general secretary Chanakya Brahma said the Bodos are spread across many parts of eastern and northeastern states and neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh.
“The history of the Bodos wallows in neglect and has been distorted in many ways. Reconstruction of Bodo history is the need of the hour,” Brahma said.
There is need to collect more information from various sources and compile an authentic history of the Bodos, Bwismutiary said.