Dimapur, August 27 (MExN): The government of Assam has land and border disputes with almost all the North Eastern states such as Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram and these issues reflect the fact that the tribal were driven away from their lands by Assam, a former senior Nagaland minister said. Since India became independent in 1947, in the name of insurgency or the undergrounds, the government of Assam has taken away lands belonging to the tribals Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram, former Congress leader TA Ngullie said in a statement today.
In his tirade against the government of Assam, Ngullie said any individual can fish out government papers since ‘the 1928 notification’. “In the name of the series of notifications by the Assam Government all the lands belonging to the tribals were forcibly taken away. All the notifications shows that it extents the boundaries of the boundary till the tribals were completely driven out of Brahmaputra valley one after the other,” the former minister stated.
Ngullie said the Assam Government’s continued blaming of the Nagas undergrounds is a tactic to grab lands from Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram. “These tribals are dominated by the people inhabiting in Assam but whose origins are not of Assam (Ahoms) or who are not Assamese or non Ahoms. These non Assamese people are noted for the harassments they cause to the Nagas and these criminals from Dimapur are found in Kholapani, Merapani, Sorupathar etc areas and they are protected by the Assam Govt. to forcibly occupy the lands of the Naga people and other tribals lands.”
During his 50 years of politics and legislator, Ngullie said, he has seen “a lot of mistakes” committed by the Assam government. “All the Bengalis in Assam were beaten and driven off out of Assam. Any Behari and Hindi speaking people were killed or beaten and driven out of Assam, Assamese language was officially imposed to the tribals and thereby 8 ( eight) such States were created in the North East because of language issue,” he explained. If Assam is claiming ‘historical facts’, where is the land, boundary and why it has “lost” all its boundary documents and maps, he queried.
On the outburst of Assam government spokesman Hemanta Biswas Sarma against Nagaland on the border issue, Ngullie said accusing Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio as an agent of the NSCN (IM) and running the government in collaboration is a ‘direct accusation against constitutional propriety which is challengeable legally and officially and as per the customary laws.’ “Mr. Rio has not even seen the whole of Nagaland and how was that Mr. Rio know Charaipung in Arunachal Pradesh,’ Ngullie queried the Assam leader.
“Whether Shri. HB Sarma is an original Ahom whose forefathers entered an agreement with the tribal Nagas. Since I do not know him personally I need to put this question to him to maintain peace and harmony between the Nagas and the Ahoms. Shri. HB Sarma should understand that no notification of forest grabbing is accepted by the tribals of the North East and he should be careful in his utterances in respect of land and its resources.”
He also said the Government of India is not trying to ‘diagnose’ the exact problem of the tribal and their lands except offering “good words” to please pacify them. That ruse of the Indian government is the “number one” grievance of the tribal in the country today, Ngullie explained.
Ngullie added that the people of Assam have a longing for peaceful coexistence and friendship with the other tribal peoples. “Land dispute is every where in the Country but this has to be settled amicably and peacefully through negotiations but not with violence and agitations,” he said.
