Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma blamed the Congress party for the current turmoil in Manipur.
Addressing a press conference on August 8 evening, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the boiling situation in Manipur and the entire North East is a creation of the Congress party in the last 75 years. Today the Congress party is talking about Manipur in parliament, not for the love for the State. When Manipur was burning prior to 2014, when the diesel price shot up to 300 Rupees, did any Congress leader visit Manipur? When 1100 people were killed in Manipur, did the Congress Prime Minister visit and stayed in Manipur? Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma questioned. He said the Congress party is spreading a false narrative. One Congress leader visited Manipur for a few hours and became an expert on the State, the I.N.D.I.A leaders visited the State for a few hours and became an expert on Manipur.
The situation deteriorated in Manipur during the 90’s because of the wrong policies of Congress, and now BJP is bearing the legacy of those wrong policies created by Congress. Likewise, today Assam is facing a crisis because of the faulty policy of welcoming Bangladeshi Muslims to Assam created by the Congress party. There are several issues which should be undone. But after even knowing it, we can’t undo it due to the wrong policies and acts created by the Congress party, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added.
Today what is happening in Manipur is entirely because of the wrong policies created by the Congress party. During the framing of the Constitution, when a safeguard was required, they didn’t give it. But when they gave it, they ensured that the safeguard given led to various conflicts in the State. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said when the Congress party created Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya out of Assam 50 years ago, they didn’t demarcate the boundaries of the States. For the last 50 years, the States have been fighting on this issue. He accused Congress of having “blood on its hand” as far as the North East region is concerned. The Congress wanted to create a conflict in the region, and it successfully ran the conflict for 50 years to remain in power.
The entire motive of the Congress party was to create conflicts between communities, States and religions so that the party could rule the North East forever by the divide-and-rule policy, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma pointed out.
Taking a jibe at Congress party Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that during the 1962 war Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was so afraid to send Indira Gandhi to Assam as he feared she would be kidnapped by the Chinese. It is not my words but that of Pupul Jaykar, a Gandhi family friend. And Nehru never visited Assam at that time. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed ran away from Tezpur, thinking that the Chinese Army might have invaded us. Later Fakarudding Ali was made President of India by the Congress party, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added.
Himanta Biswa Sarma also mentioned that false information was placed in parliament by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on August 8. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn’t visit the BTR area during the communal clash in 2008. In 2012 when there was a communal clash in the BTR area, Manmohan Singh visited Kokrajhar for one hour. The token visit of the PM for an hour was not the reason for resolving the crisis. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma mentioned that the conflict was resolved when the intelligence bureau took the initiative, and I took both the community leaders to Delhi, and a discussion was held in the presence of the then-home secretary R K Singh.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma mentioned that the BJP Government is doing the healing touch in the region, and many issues have been resolved. State boundary issue is being addressed, peace accords with separatist groups are being signed, and confidence-building measures are being taken. But the chaos created by the Congress party can’t be resolved in a few years. It will take some time, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added.
