Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma,
in a sharp response to eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal’s controversial remark on Assam,
said people without knowledge of the Northeastern State’s history should not
speak.
While arguing about the migration issue during
a hearing on the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, Sibal
reportedly had said, “Assam originally was a part of Myanmar.”
“Those who have no knowledge of Assam’s
history should not speak. Assam was never a part of Myanmar. There were clashes
for a brief period. That was the only relation. Otherwise, I have not seen any
data which stated that Assam was a part of Myanmar,” asserted Dr Himanta Sarma.
The brawl between firebrand leader and
BJP Northeast strategist CM Himanta and lawyer, Rajya Sabha MP and former
Congress leader Kapil Sibal also comes amid the crisis in Manipur where the
issue of illegal immigrants from Myanmar is a huge factor in the violence.
Many Central leaders including Home
Minister Amit Shah and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar have shared same
sentiments regarding the entry of illegal immigrants that fuelled the unrest in
the Northeast State.
Not only this, in fact Mizoram has taken
in over 35,000 refugees from the junta-ruled Myanmar, where the military forces
are fighting ethnic insurgent groups and pro-democracy rebels.
Additionally, new CM Lalduhoma is
seeking cooperation from the Centre regarding the issues of refugees from
Myanmar and Bangladesh, and displaced Kuki tribes from neighbouring crisis-hit
Manipur who have taken shelter in Mizoram.
During the Supreme Court proceedings, Sibal
had stressed regarding migration, “If you look at the history of Assam, you
will realise that it is impossible to figure out who came when. Assam
originally was a part of Myanmar. And it was way back in 1824 after the British
conquered a part of the territory that a treaty was entered into by which Assam
was handed over to the British.”
“You can imagine the kind of movements
of people that must have taken place in the context of the then British empire.
And if you jump to 1905, you have the partition of Bengal,” stated Sibal, who
is also the lawyer of some members of the Kuki tribes in Manipur, following the
Kukis’ ethnic clashes with Meiteis.
NE Watch Desk
