Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday asserted that the BJP is forming a strong base in the Northeast and the party has “come to stay” in the region.
Continuing his tirade against AIUDF, Sarma alleged that the party’s supremo Badruddin Ajmal, whom the BJP accuses of being an advocate of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, would have become the chief minister had the saffron camp not expanded its support base in the state.
“Political history was created in Assam last year when the BJP-led coalition became the only non-Congress government to retain power for the second consecutive term in the state,” Sarma told reporters here.
The North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor said that besides Assam, the BJP is also expanding its base across the region.
“BJP-led governments have retained power for second terms in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and formed the government in Tripura. The saffron party will retain power in Manipur with an absolute majority in the assembly elections likely to be held this year, while the party is also making rapid inroads in the other northeastern states,” he said.
“BJP governments will be repeated in the states of the region after the end of the five-year tenure. The BJP has come to stay in the Northeast,” the chief minister said.
Sarma alleged that BJP’s rise to power in Assam has kept Ajmal in abeyance.
“If the BJP hadn’t formed the government in the state, Ajmal saab would have been the chief minister. In 30 years’ time, we are heading towards that,” he said.
“Would he (Ajmal) work to save our Assamese language?” Sarma said, urging people to work with the government for conserving the language.
Ajmal, a Lok Sabha MP and perfume baron, is the head of the AIUDF, which is the second-largest opposition party in the state with 15 MLAs in the 126-member House.
To a query on the status of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is yet to be notified by the Registrar General of India, Sarma refused to comment, stating that the matter was in the Supreme Court.
On progress in the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides constitutional safeguards for the people of the state, he said the recommendations of a high-level committee for its implementation that was formed by the central government are being studied.
“We haven’t been able to move forward as the recommendations do not fulfil judicial requirements. We are looking how to resolve it,” Sarma said.
The chief minister claimed that the central government’s pro-active interest has led to the resolution of many problems of the region.
He named the resolution of the Bru-Reang refugee issue and the signing of peace accords with Karbi and Bodo militants of Assam as three major achievements in the last couple of years.
Refusing to comment much on the ongoing peace initiatives with the NSCN factions of Nagaland, Sarma said, “There is a positive initiative going on in Nagaland emissaries of the groups and government interlocutors are meeting frequently and that gives us hope.”
The ULFA problem, resettlement of Chakma refugees and inter-state border disputes are the three critical issues that remain unresolved, he said.
“The central government has taken due cognisance of these issues and various efforts are going on to resolve these. I foresee a lot of positive developments in 2022,” he added.
Sarma said the border disputes have to be settled as the “spirit of Northeast” gets defeated due to these conflicts.
He was hopeful that Assam’s disputes with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh will be resolved this year.