APCC leaders, cadres on the march

Destition: Assam-galand border

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 10: State Congress leaders and cadres are on the march, set to reach Assam-galand border at Merapani on Saturday. They smell a rat on the framework agreement signed between New Delhi and NSCN-IM on the issue of Greater galim.

In fact Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has announced a slew of padayatras (marches or processions on foot) to many fringe areas bordering galand. Some places in Assam like Merapani, Mariani, Geleki and Sori share borders with galand, and hence they are destitions for the Congress in the State for the current protest through padayatras.

Flagging of the padayatra from Rajiv Bhavan in Guwahati this morning, APCC president Ripun Bora said: “The framework agreement was signed in 2015, but its contents have not been made public as yet. The role of State Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal seems to be fishy, as though he’s silent on the issue just to stick to his chair. He refrains from making any clear-cut statement on the agreement. If the Manipur Chief Minister can meet the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister and tell them that his Government is not ready to cede even an inch of Manipur land to galand, why can’t Sonowal do that? NSCN-IM, on the other hand, claims that the framework agreement is to be effective from this Christmas.”

On State Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi’s recent statement that he was in dark on the framework agreement on Greater galim, Bora said: “This has made it crystal clear that the Centre hasn’t taken Dispur into confidence on its agreement with NSCN-IM. This is a clear violation Centre-State relations and a blatant breach of trust between the two.”

According to Bora, the party delegation is going to visit Merapani on November 11, Mariani on November 13, Geleki on November 14 and Sori on November 15, 2017. A delegation of the party is also going to visit Majuli on November 12, albeit not as part of the current padaytra. “We’re going to visit Karbi Anglong in the second phase of border visit. However, its schedule has not been prepared as yet,” he said, and added: “We want solution to the galim problem. However, for that we aren’t ready to cede even an inch of Assam land to the neighbouring State.”

Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Debabrata Saikia and deputy Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rakibul Hussain were also present at the press briefing. They all left for Merapani.