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It has always been the gameplan of Bangladesh to grab Assam: SK Sinha
R Dutta Choudhury
GUWAHATI, March 29 Assam should get more attention from the Government of India than Kashmir but unfortunately this has not been the case over the years, observed former Governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Lt Gen Sinha, who was on a three-day visit to the North East, expressed the view that Assam should get proper attention from the Centre in the interest of the nation as a whole. Assam is very rich in natural resources like oil, tea, water resources, forests etc and these are vital for the country, he pointed out.
Lt Gen Sinha said that it has always been the game plan of Bangladesh to grab Assam and the silent invasion through unabated infiltration is aimed at achieving the objective. He pointed out that Bangladesh, facing the burden of population, needs more space and as the North East region is connected to rest of India by only a small chicken neck corridor, if anti-India forces manage to cut that off, the entire region would be snapped from the rest of the country. That is why, the Government of India must give due attention to Assam and other parts of North East in the interest of the nation, he added.
The former Governor said that the leaders of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), taking shelter in Bangladesh, are now propagating the interests of the Bangladeshi nationals by going against the interests of the indigenous people, which is very unfortunate.
Lt Gen Sinha observed that at one point of time, the people of Assam were gripped by a feeling of alienation because of the attitude of successive Governments at the Centre and that was one of the reasons why the ULFA took up arms. He said that for years, the farmers of Assam were totally dependent on a good monsoon, no major hydropower project came up in the State and though the British rulers discovered oil and established the second refinery in the world, the State had to wait for years to get the second refinery. But the situation is now changing with major projects being implemented. Though steps are now being taken for the development of the State and other parts of the region, the development process was delayed and much still was needed to be done, he said.
Lt Gen Sinha expressed the view that the feeling of alienation in the minds of the people of Assam has been removed. Of course, there are grievances among the people of Assam on several issues, but the people of almost all the states of India have their grievances against the Centre, he said.
Replying to a question on his experiences as the State Governor, Lt Gen Sinha said that during his tenure he tried his best to work for the people of the State. He said that he had to take some hard decisions and though certain sections criticised him for submitting a report to the President of India on the problem of infiltration in 1998, I feel that I did my best.
Lt Gen Sinha admitted that he felt frustrated because of the fact that the problem of infiltration is yet to receive due importance from the Central Government and most of the recommendations given in the report are yet to be implemented to deal with the problem. I faced lots of criticism over the report. Some organisations burnt my effigies and 22 Congress MPs even went to the extent of filing a petition before the President of India urging him to recall me. But I feel proud of the fact that the report later turned out to be a landmark one and the Supreme Court quoted the same extensively in its verdict scrapping the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, he added.
The former Governor said that he had worked with two Chief Ministers in Assam. He said that his relation with Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was very cordial and though his relation with Tarun Gogoi was also cordial, Gogoi never discussed the problem of infiltration with me.
The Assam Tribune Online
