NEW DELHI, Oct 27 - Alleging that a rift is sought to be created between Barak and Brahmaputra valleys on the basis of language, the Prabajan Virodhi Manch (PVM) on Thursday attacked the Sonowal government charging that during its five months in office no steps have been taken on crucial matters, including eviction of admitted encroachers in Darrang, Morigaon and Kamrup districts.
The elected representatives, representing the people�s will, should have fulfilled their election promises of protecting jati, mati and bheti and fighting the last battle of Saraighat against Bangladeshis. Instead of doing so, the citizens are being pitted against each other, said Upamanyu Hazarika.
Hazarika, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to submit a report on the illegal migrants issue, said that in the foreigner�s issue up in the Supreme Court, no stand has been articulated either on citizenship by birth or on the validity of the cut-off date of March 25, 1971. No response to the Citizenship Amendment Bill has been given, including amendment to the Citizenship Act against giving citizenship by birth to children born of illegal migrants after the cut-off date.
There is no policy statement as to how the government proposes to deal with those not included in the NRC. Finally, the most important promise of suraksha kobos, protecting indigenous people by reserving land and other resources on 1951 basis, was not even discussed, he pointed out.
Unfortunate, the fallout of public protest is that it is threatening to create a rift and conflict between citizens on the basis of language.
The migrants being Bengali speaking, this has resulted in a campaign against Bengali-speaking people in general and threatening to create a rift between the Barak and the Brahmaputra valleys on the basis of language. The actual threat to the indigenous people from the Bangladeshi migrants has receded into the background and it is now an issue of language and region, on the basis of which citizens are sought to be divided.
