Guwahati, Nov 7 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday criticised the Congress for the fatal militant attacks on hundreds of Gorkha and Adivasi people in the state when the grand old party was in power .
Raising concern about Congress' past treatment with Gorkha and Adivasi people, Sarma, speaking at a campaign for the bypolls in the Sidli Assembly constituency, said: "Hundreds of Gorkha and Adivasi people were killed in Assam when the Congress party was in power. However, not a single instance of this nature happened under the BJP rule in more than 8 years."
He referred to instances of violence committed by extremist organizations, such as the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), when the Congress was in power.
Sarma mentioned particular incidents, such as the 2004 massacres in the Biswanath district, in which NDFB militants shot and killed 12 members of the Gorkha, Adivasi, and Assamese communities.
He mentioned: “On October 4, 2004, in Biswanath district, 12 people from the Gorkha, Adivasi, and Assamese communities were killed by bullets from NDFB militants."
The Chief Minister went on to discuss other NDFB attacks, such as the ones in 2014 in Mati Alu Basti, Simangpara, and Sindhiya, which claimed 27 lives, as well as other attacks in Jongalbasti, Batasipur, Santipur, and Dhekiajuli locality.
He also said, “The Gorkhas and other indigenous groups were referred to as foreigners and their hardships were disregarded under the Congress-led government. The Congress called our indigenous Gorkhas foreigners, labeling them as D voters” .
According to Sarma, these communities were denied their proper place in Assamese society and experienced systemic discrimination in the Congress regime.
“Chabilal Upadhyaya was a great leader who fought for the Assamese language to become the official language of Assam,” the Chief Minister remarked, referring to the Gorkha politician’s substantial contribution to the Assamese language movement.
He said, “The Congress should never have classified his descendants as foreigners.”
Sarma also discussed his current effort to pay tribute to Upadhyaya's legacy.
“A statue of Chabilal Upadhyaya was unveiled in Tezpur's Ananda Chandra Agarwala park, and I am planning to build a larger-than-life statue of this great personality in Guwahati," he added.
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