GUWAHATI, Oct 11 � Alleging that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was indirectly encouraging neignbouring States to encroach Assam�s borderland through his ill-omened political conduct and utterances, public activist Prof Deven Dutta said that the State Government�s inexplicable inertia on unabated encroachment by the neighbouring State of Nagaland was pushing Assam into grave danger.
In a statement, Prof Dutta alleged that as per a tacit understanding between the Centre and the Nagaland Government, a �Greater Nagalim� was on the anvil and a concerted move on the part of the Nagaland Government and Naga rebels was on to forcefully occupy as much land as possible from the Assam side.
�The Centre has apparently given a green signal to Nagaland to encroach on neighbouring States, and this has manifested in large-scale planned encroachment on Assam�s land by Nagaland. Vast tracts of Assam�s land, including reserve forests in the districts of Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong are now under Naga encroachment, with the latter constructing government offices, hospitals, roads, markets, etc., in a bid to accord legitimacy on their illegal act,� Prof Dutta said.
Criticising the Assam Government, Prof Dutta said that all along it had been maintaining a stoic silence to the aggressive designs of its Nagaland counterpart even when the situation worsened seriously resulting in loot, arson, destruction of property of Assam�s border residents, and killing.
Prof Dutta said that the administration and police stationed along the border areas existed for the sake of name only and they were under instruction to keep their eyes shut to all the acts of depredations indulged in by miscreants from the other side.
Prof Dutta said that the State Government had set a very bad precedent by handing over Assam�s land to Bangladesh without taking the people of the State into confidence. �And now, the Chief Minister and his colleagues are beating about the bush to mislead the people on the issue,� he added.
Prof Dutta said that the State Government had failed to solve none of the burning issues of the State and was now trying to cover up its failure through incoherent talk and through distribution of freebies like yarn and blanket.
�Corruption has attained an all-time high in the State due to tacit support of the Government to the scourge. It has been a failure on all fronts, and regrettably the Opposition too is playing into its hands instead of mobilising the public against the corrupt Government,� he said.
Questioning the role of the State�s student organisations who were maintaining close relationship with student bodies of other north-eastern States in the interest of �North-east unity�, Prof Dutta said that it was time those student organisations made clear their stand on the issue of encroachment by neighbouring States.
