Guwahati: Reacting sharply on a fake news published by "The Times of India" news paper, Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Shama slammed it for such baseless news. The CM shared a picture of the fake news published in The Times of India in his social media handles and said I strongly refute this type of fake news. He further wrote in his Facebook and twitter handle, "I am aghast to see this news in The Times of India. No Chief Minister can discuss Sovereignty of India with any one. This is non-negotiable. We all Indians, irrespective of our positions, are here to protect the sovereignty of India. I strongly refute the news report. This is FALSE."
It should be mentioned that The Times of India published a news article based on the comment of CM Dr. Sarma on the recent unilateral ceasefire declaration by ULFA(I). Reacting to the ceasefire Dr. Sarma on Wednesday said that we well come the decision by ULFA(I) and the environment for a peace talk with the ULFA(I) is taking a right path.
But in a report published on Thursday, Times of India claimed that Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated on Wednesday that Ulfa (I)’s core demand of sovereignty has to be addressed along the way.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has slammed the Times of India for publishing fake news that claimed that the Assam government is ready to hold talks with ULFA (I) and discuss their core issues including demand for sovereignty.
The report further went on to add that since the inception of undivided Ulfa in 1979, no CM had ever come close to acknowledging the core demand of sovereignty for a dialogue. It added that former PM Manmohan Singh had once stated that the centre was ready to discuss ‘core issues’.
The report further stated that soon after taking office, CM Sarma had stated that dealing with Ulfa ‘needed a fresh approach and had added that “an equilibrium has to be created between the perimeters of the constitution and the outfit’s demand for sovereignty and their core issues will have to be discussed at some point of time.”
In September, CM Dr. Sarma had stated that he had spoken with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and had obtained permission to start initial talks with ULFA(I) chief Paresh Barua. He had clarified further that it was at initial levels and no conclusions should be drawn from it. The CM further made it clear that, we all take oath of keeping the sovereignty of the nation intake as a public representative,so it is not possible to include it for dialog with any organisation.
