With Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi away in the United States for some time, it fell to the lot of Power and Industry Minister Pradyut Bordoloi to comment on encroachment of the State’s border areas by neighbouring States – particularly by Nagaland – and the atrocities on Asomiya citizens in their own State because the Home Department of the State has long abdicated its responsibilities in the matter of guarding the State’s borders and its territory. Things came to a head in the territory of Asom adjoining Nagaland many years ago – especially in places like Merapani – where Asomiya people have been subjected to Naga atrocities for decades. They have been forced to pay regular ‘taxes’ to armed Naga groups. Even the Nagaland government has constructed schools, hospitals and recently a bus terminus on Asom territory. Even one or two polling booths for Nagaland elections are in Asom territory. In all, over 66,000 hectares of Asom’s land are under occupation of Nagas, and the recent atrocities on the Asomiya people have even compelled some people to leave their hearths and homes and to seek shelter elsewhere. We are not aware whether the police personnel posted along Asom’s border with Nagaland are in the habit of taunting the Asomiya inhabitants of places like Merapani as being timid or cowardly. There are unconfirmed reports that such comments are freely aired, and some police officers are even in the habit of claiming that the residents of Merapani have been getting no more than what they deserve for their lack of courage and their inability to put up a fight. This is indeed cruel, and sounds more like a sick joke. There we have Asomiya inhabitants who have no firearms at all having to face Naga militants and terrorists who do not move unarmed. The people are expected to face well-armed Nagas with no weapons. And what is the example of courage that the armed police battalions of Asom have set to their fellow Asomiyas? No more than perpetual fear that motivates all their actions. Over the decades, this fear, this cowardice and the inability to take action or retaliate is rationalized as an attempt to preserve good neighbourly relations. As a result, Asom has lost vast territory to Nagaland over the years. And the one thing that is certain is that this lost territory can never be regained by Asom, thanks to its inept and timid police force.
It is in a situation like this that Minister Pradyut Bordoloi decided to speak a few brave words regarding the recent situation in Asom’s border areas with Nagaland. The most puerile remark, of course, was that Asom would not surrender an inch of its land to Nagaland. Is he not aware of how much land Nagaland has already taken into its possession? Is he not aware of the administrative infrastructure of Nagaland constructed on Asom’s territory? Is over 66,000 hectares of territory less than an inch in his reckoning? Is it not like the childish slogan of the Asom Movement days when AASU cadres shouted slogans like “Tez dim, tel nidio (We shall give blood but not oil)”? We cannot have a minister playing cruel jokes with the people. But when we recall the rosy promises he had made to the people of the State around 2002 about how Asom would have no power problems at all after 2006, one begins to realize his words have to be taken with a handful of salt. He can be relied on to make promises; he cannot be relied on to keep them. However, the time for empty promises is over. The people of Asom should demand a white paper from the Asom government that states categorically what it intends to do about recovering the territory of Asom under possession of Nagaland and the other neighbouring States and by when. THE SENTINEL
It is in a situation like this that Minister Pradyut Bordoloi decided to speak a few brave words regarding the recent situation in Asom’s border areas with Nagaland. The most puerile remark, of course, was that Asom would not surrender an inch of its land to Nagaland. Is he not aware of how much land Nagaland has already taken into its possession? Is he not aware of the administrative infrastructure of Nagaland constructed on Asom’s territory? Is over 66,000 hectares of territory less than an inch in his reckoning? Is it not like the childish slogan of the Asom Movement days when AASU cadres shouted slogans like “Tez dim, tel nidio (We shall give blood but not oil)”? We cannot have a minister playing cruel jokes with the people. But when we recall the rosy promises he had made to the people of the State around 2002 about how Asom would have no power problems at all after 2006, one begins to realize his words have to be taken with a handful of salt. He can be relied on to make promises; he cannot be relied on to keep them. However, the time for empty promises is over. The people of Asom should demand a white paper from the Asom government that states categorically what it intends to do about recovering the territory of Asom under possession of Nagaland and the other neighbouring States and by when. THE SENTINEL
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