GUWAHATI, Aug 20 � Criticising the State Government for its �lethargy and inaction� over the recent border incursion by miscreants from Arunachal Pradesh with support from a separatist ultra outfit at Charaipung in Sivasagar district, public activist Prof Deven Dutta called for an emergent session of the State Assembly to discuss the situation and initiate firm measures to drive out the encroachers.
�What the State is witnessing at the Charaipung border are exceptional developments threatening the very existence of the people. This is a virtual invasion that also involves a separatist militant outfit. A police barrack and residences inside Assam have been destroyed but the State Government seems utterly nonchalant about the situation� an emergent session of the Assembly should be convened to discuss the matter,� Prof Dutta said.
Questioning the �status quo� which the State Government often reiterates about border rows, Prof Dutta said that repeated incursions and illegal occupation of more and more of Assam�s land by several of its neighbours had made a mockery of the �status quo.�
�The status quo referred to by the Government is a misnomer as it does not denote the pre-skirmish or pre-occupational position. Everyday the miscreants are pushing into our territory and our Government is content with maintaining �status quo� even if it actually means losing our land,� Prof Dutta said.
Terming the lackadaisical attitude of the State Government and the administration as absolutely appalling, Prof Dutta said that not a single minister or MLA visited the Charaipung area. �The Chief Minister might be recuperating in Mumbai but that does not mean that the Government and the administration should come to a standstill. There is also a Chief Minister in-charge besides a ten-member cabinet committee to supervise the administration. Are they all in a state of deep slumber so as not to react to such an ominous development?� he asked.
Prof Dutta also decried the role of so-called student organisations with �old and non-student leaders� that had been maintaining a stoic silence over the developments. �These organisations are habituated to raising a hue and cry over almost every other issue but most surprisingly when it comes to border incursions by neighbouring States, they remain conspicuous by their silence. At the most a few local student leaders are making statements but the gravity of the situation warrants a vociferous protest by the top leaders. Could it be that these so-called student leaders do not want to displease their counterparts in other student bodies in the neighbouring States?� Prof Dutta questioned.
Criticising the role of the administration, Prof Dutta said that deputy commissioners and superintendents of police are not supposed to wait for instructions of their political leadership when it comes to ensuring safety of lives and property of citizens and public property including land. �The people also have a right to know the role of the Chief Secretary and the DGP in this regard, as security of the people and the State�s territorial integrity is at stake,� he said.
Asserting that there was a sinister design of including parts of Assam in the NSCN (I-M)�s �Greater Nagalim�, Prof Dutta said that the submissive and weak stand of the Assam Government encouraged the encroachers to illegally occupy and settle on the State�s land. �The encroachers have even set up offices, schools, churches, etc., on Assam land with the State Government remaining a mute spectator,� he added.
Prof Dutta said that the State Government�s inaction on encroachment by neighbouring States, especially by Nagaland, raised questions whether it had a tacit understanding with the Centre on the matter. �Even as Nagaland is encroaching on more and more land, the Centre keeps telling the Assam Government about maintaining the sanctity of the so-called status quo,� he said.
