GUWAHATI, Oct 9 � The All Assam Students' Union today alleged that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was preparing to cede Assam's land to the neighbouring State of Nagaland after he had done a similar thing to Bangladesh recently.
Castigating the Chief Minister over the State Government's failure in maintaining the State's terri-torial integrity in the face of unabated encroachment by Nagaland, with people living in the border areas reportedly fleeing due to the aggressive designs of Nagaland, AASU president Sankar Prasad Rai and adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya said that the developments exposed once again the "sheer callousness of the Assam Government when it comes to protecting the State's land and its people."
In a state-ment, the AASU presi-dent said that under no circumstances would the State Government be allowed to forsake its consti-tutional obligation of protecting the lives and property of its people as also the State's territorial integrity.
"The State Government must ensure adequate security arrang-ements at Merapani area where people are facing sleepless nights in the face of Naga aggression," the AASU said.
Alleging that the State Government had never treated the issue of aggressive encroachment from neighbouring states, particularly Nagaland, seriously, the AASU said that now the Chief Minister was trying to restrict his responsibility into an assessment by a senior bureaucrat only.
"The Assam Government has virtually no existence along the Assam-Nagaland border. This has emboldened the encroachers to intimidate and threaten the border inhabitants to leave their homes," it said.
An AASU delegation has been in the border area to take stock of the situation.
