Claiming that boundary dispute is one of the main cause of tension among north-eastern regions of India, veteran politician O Joy Singh on Thursday appealed to the Union government and other authorities concerned to demarcate boundaries of all north eastern states at the earliest.
During a press conference held at Congress Bhawan, Joy objected to Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s statement that there is no boundary dispute between Manipur and Nagaland. Joy said that most of the tension erupted between north eastern states of India is mainly associated with non-demarcation of boundaries. To promote harmonious co-existence between the NE region of India, the government of India should settle the long pending problem of boundary issues, he said.
He recalled that under North Eastern Reorganisation Act, which was passed on December 30, 1971, many states were established by reducing the area of Assam. They are Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. But unfortunately, the government of India failed to demarcate the areas of these states till date. As a result of it, there is a dispute between Assam and Manipur, Nagaland and Assam, Assam and Meghalaya etc., the veteran politician said.
Even leaders of North East Regional Political Forum in 1985 unanimously accepted that not demarcating the boundaries between NE states has led to tension between various NE regions, he added.
While claiming that not settling boundary disputes is almost similar to adopting divide and rule policy between this region which is mainly inhabited by the Mongoloid community, he appealed to the union government to settle the boundary dispute by considering it as a long term mechanism to have peaceful coexistence between the NE states.
Joy, condemning the indefinite blockade called by SAPO, said that to conduct democratic form of agitation is acceptable in democratic form of government. But imposing bandh, blockade in lifelines by affecting the life of other people is unconstitutional. And as per law, agitators should bear the loss incurred by sufferers, he said.
He also appreciated the effort of chief minister N Biren Singh to withdraw the SAPO’s bandh by urging his counterpart of Nagaland.
