Dimapur, July 28 (MExN): Youth Congress Presidents from Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday issued a joint statement condemning the Assam Government’s alleged use of “aggression and force” against its neighbouring states and demanded that the Himanta Biswa Sarma be removed as Chief Minister of Assam.
“Since the appointment of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chief Minister of Assam these incidents have increased alarming and the use of police force has increased dramatically,” a statement that was appended by the presidents of Manipur Pradesh Youth Congress, Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress, Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress, Mizoram Pradesh Youth Congress, and the Nagaland Pradesh Youth Congress alleged.
The statement claimed that civilians at the bordering states of Assam bear the brunt of these aggressions, where farms lands and crops and infrastructures are damaged and civilians are harassed and intimidated frequently by armed Assam Police.
“These incidents are causing a lot of ill-feeling amongst the people of North East India and has caused serious damage to the unity and sisterhood of the North Eastern States,” it added.
It went on to say that the worsening of tensions showed the “total failure” of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), “and the ensuing situations have proven yet again that NEDA was never created for the development and unity of the North East States, but only created to grab political power in the North East by any means necessary by the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).”
Further, the statement condemned Sarma for “his continuous efforts to inflame the situation and his repeated attempts to malign the neighbouring states,” and said that it was under his government that the situation has deteriorated and incidents of unprovoked aggression have spiked from the Assam administration. “We reiterate our belief that he is responsible for the worsening of tensions between the North East States,” it said while demanding his removal as Chief Minister of Assam “so that we can have a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere in the North East again.”
