Congress has blood on its hands in northeast: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday alleged that Congress has blood on its hands in the northeast, and none of its PMs gave any healing touch to the region in the last 75 years.Addressing a press conference here to counter Congress allegations during the no-trust motion in Parliament, Sarma said the distress in the region is due to the faulty policies of the grand old party.Congress hands, as far as the northeast is concerned, are full of blood.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday alleged that Congress has blood on its hands in the northeast, and none of its PMs gave any healing touch to the region in the last 75 years.

Addressing a press conference here to counter Congress' allegations during the no-trust motion in Parliament, Sarma said the distress in the region is due to the faulty policies of the grand old party.

''Congress' hands, as far as the northeast is concerned, are full of blood. No Congress PM extended any healing touch to the region in the last 75 years,'' he claimed.

''The Congress must analyse why because of its wrong policies, Manipur is burning. They have created a sad situation in the northeast,'' he said.

Ethnic rioting between two communities in Manipur since the last three months has claimed over 160 lives.

''Congress created this sad situation in the entire northeast; communities didn't start fighting overnight," Sarma said.

He pointed out that clashes on ethnic lines are not happening for the first time in Manipur, and "thousands of people died in earlier such conflicts".

''Clashes in Manipur have been continuing since the 1990s... Manipur is limping back to normalcy and the situation is far better now compared to May,'' he claimed.

Sarma also said the Manipur strife cannot be solved with the Army and Assam Rifles, but will require reaching out to the people for a permanent solution.

''I appeal to the Congress not to mislead the world; they must apologise for what's happening in the northeast," he said, adding, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi should state facts "properly" inside Parliament regarding the visit of former prime minister Manmohan Singh to Assam during clashes in Kokrajhar.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders remaining silent for months on the Manipur issue, Sarma said sometimes silence is more powerful.

''We remained silent because words might lead to commotion in Manipur. I am thankful to the central government for remaining silent,'' the CM said.

Talking about the India-China war of 1962, he claimed that former president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had fled Tezpur fearing that the Assam town would be captured by the Chinese.

''Congress had created all the states. Why did it not demarcate the border properly taking all into confidence? The Congress' policy is to trigger clashes on communal and religious lines so that they divide and rule,'' Sarma said.

He also alleged that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh could enter Assam and northeast because of policies adopted by the Congress governments since Independence.

''I cannot allow the Assamese people to become a minority in the state,'' he said. ''Congress has created war zones in the northeast and it can't be solved in one or two years. The BJP is trying, but it will require a lot of time and effort,'' Sarma added.

Asked about BJP MLAs from the Kuki community demanding separate administrative units in Manipur, the NEDA convenor remarked: ''No MLA is speaking on party lines. They spoke as an individual and said what their community was speaking. It is wrong to prefix BJP in their statements. BJP is for one Manipur without any division."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)