The claim by the firebrand Meghalaya legislator Paul Lyngdoh that the official bungalow of the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and adjacent areas to it are inside the Meghalaya border has become the most interesting topic in the recent time. In fact, after the Meghalaya legislator’s claim, the issue became one of the burning topics on the ongoing Assam Assembly where opposition MLAs rocked the Assembly and expressed their anguish over the silence of the Government particularly the Chief Minister Gogoi. They even staged walkout on the Government’s inaction to the serious allegation made by the Meghalaya legislator.
The matter turned out to be explosive when Lyngdoh demanded on the floor of Meghalaya Assembly that Assam Chief Minister vacate his official bungalow or pay rent to the Meghalaya Government. Interestingly, even the Revenue Minister of Meghalaya had given his consent to the proposal given by Lyngdoh. Following this development, all the opposition MLAs asked the Assam Chief Minister to give his response to the allegation but the Chief Minister remained silent that led the opposition MLAs staging walkout.
But much before the claim made by Meghalaya legislators of the controversial Assam Chief Minister’s official bungalow falling in the Meghalaya border, some leading national dailies and newsmagazines had already highlighted the issue. Such revelations had emboldened rather Meghalaya legislators to openly challenge that the present Assam Chief Minister’s official bungalow lies in their State border.
Ever since this news broke out, things unheard of have gradually started rolling out and now the two Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya have been trying their best to resolve the issue.
But their attempts to resolve the explosive issue hardly paid off because opposition members in Meghalaya kept on pressurizing the State Government either to ask the Assam chief Minister to vacate the bungalow or else he pays rent to the State government as his official bungalow situated in their land. It will be an interesting subject to throw some light as to how this issue, which was otherwise kept under wraps for years together, would be further discussed. More interesting things would be unfolded as more discussions continued.
The so-called area where Assam Chief Minister’s present official bungalow lies is within the traditional land of the Amri Karbis or Karbis. Even one will surprise to know that Dispur falls within the Amiri Karbi traditional land and even present Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (GBIA) and beyond is also within the jurisdiction of the Amri Karbis.
Surprisingly, on the Meghalaya side bordering Assam too lies in the Karbi areas and these Karbi people, who had been in the then undivided Assam State, have been placed in two States---Meghalaya and Assam—when the Meghalaya State was carved out of the then Assam State in 1972. Unfortunately, Karbis have been divided and placed in two States.
In fact, the Amri Karbi National Council has been spearheading for the cause of Karbi people for the last many decades. The leaders of Amri Karbis have also been meeting with the number of Central leaders. Even recently they met the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and also even the President of India Pratibha Patil and apprised them that the existing Dispur and vast areas including the GBIA and beyond are in their traditional land. Yet they are completely sidelined and ignored and treated them as if they had come from somewhere else.
So when the matter came up that the present official bungalow of the Assam Chief Minister that it lies in Meghalaya side, it is not surprised at all. It is not wrong in any way because this present Assam Chief Minister official bungalow and adjacent areas are yet to be settled.
On the whole, the owner of this area is undoubtedly the Karbis. Interestingly, the two leaders have been trying to settle the dispute forgetting to invite or consult the original owner of the land---the Karbis.
It will be good that the matter is settled with the consultation of the landowners. Otherwise, it will be a mockery in the eyes of the world that two strangers are trying to settle land dispute which does not belongs to both of them.
The Chief Ministers and elected representatives of the two States should also be grateful to the Karbis that in spite such injuries caused to them due to the dividing and placing them in two states, there have been peaceful all these years. This has been possible because the people living in these border areas of the two States are Karbis and they don’t want to engage in any conflicts just because some politicians wanted to gain narrow political mileage out of this situation. We only honestly advise the Chief Ministers of the two States to officially invite Karbis to find amicable settlement to the so-called disputed areas in the Karbi areas.
Takoba Teron
PO Box – 563, Kohima 797 001, Nagaland
