Guwahati, Nov 28: A 10-member Barak Democratic Front (BDF) delegation submitted memorandums to the offices of the Prime Minister and Union home minister in New Delhi, highlighting burning issues of Barak and reiterating its demand for a “separate state”.
Notably, the BDF has, over the past couple of years, made repeated appeals to the Assam government to solve the burning issues of Barak and staged several protest programmes, demanding separation of Barak from the state.
Chief convener of BDF media cell Jaydeep Bhattacharya on Tuesday said the memorandums have been submitted to apprise the central government of the problems of people of Barak who have been “marginalised and neglected” in the state.
“India is a democratic country. Therefore, the Constitution recognises the right of the people of Barak to inform the honorable Prime Minister about their suffering, deprivation and discrimination in a democratic manner. That is the purpose of our visit to Delhi,” Bhattacharya said.
He said that through the memorandum, the front apprised the Prime Minister of various movements organised to demand separation of Barak since independence, highlighting the history of continuous government apathy and neglect of the Bengali community and the Bengali language in Assam.
Bhattacharya said issues such as “detention of Bengali Hindus in camps; candidates of Barak being deprived of government jobs; closure of large industries in Barak, including paper mills; underdeveloped communication system and civic facilities” have been highlighted in the memorandum.
“Apart from this, issues related to the Silchar-Saurashtra highway, non-commencement of the multi-modal logistics park, reluctance to establish a high court branch in Barak, apathy towards development of tourism in Barak, delay in construction of the Chandranathpur-Lanka alternative rail route, etc, have been highlighted in the memorandum,” he added.
Bhattacharya further said that the front would address mediapersons at the Press Club of India (Delhi Press Club) on Wednesday to present various arguments in favour of their demand for “Purbachal state”.
He further hoped that the Centre would consider the demands of BDF and take positive steps at the earliest.
The delegation was led by BDF chief convener Pradeep Datta Roy.
