GUWAHATI, July 25: Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has condemned chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s recent remarks suggesting that indigenous communities in the state can survive only by bearing arms.
The regional party on the contrary said that only a proven and constitutional mechanism such as Clause 6 of the Assam Accord can safeguard indigenous communities in the state and their interests.
The party further termed the chief minister’s policy “as an evasive strategy to divert public attention from his government’s failure to fulfill electoral promises of protection of indigenous identity.”
Addressing mediapersons in Dibrugarh on Thursday, chief minister Sarma had stated that the Assamese people could only remain safe and secure if they were armed.
Reacting sharply to the chief minister’s statement, AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi and general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan said the BJP came to power with promises to protect the identity, land and rights of the indigenous people.
“People expected scientific and inclusive measures from the government to fulfill this promise. A proven and constitutional mechanism to ensure such protection is the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, something the Indian government has already acknowledged in Parliament,” the AJP leaders said.
Both the party leaders criticised the chief minister for ignoring this constitutional safeguard and instead resorting to emotional rhetoric to mislead the public. They emphasised that responsibility for the safety of citizens lay with the government, and urging people to take up arms indicates the government’s failure to provide that safety.
“It is shameful for any government to expose its own incompetence so openly,” they said, adding that such a government has no moral right to remain in power.