Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday alleged that people with Leftist ideology have caused "irreparable damage" to the Assamese community and they had planted the seed of "separatist concept" in the state.
Addressing a function to celebrate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Sarma said the state is still facing the impact of the damage caused by the Left.
Reacting to his assertion, the CPI(M) said the case is “just the opposite” as, it claimed, the Hindu-Muslim politics of the BJP is causing irreparable damage to the Assamese community.
"The Leftists have caused irreparable damage to the Assamese community. The separatist concept was initiated by them and we are facing the brunt in every step today," he alleged.
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In the last few years, there has been a clash of ideologies and a new concept has emerged, while the BJP has tried to challenge the established facts to find answers to certain queries, Sarma said.
"There are some conceptions in our society, but we don't know the origin of those. There was one concept that Assam was a separate state and it joined India after the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826,” he said.
The Treaty of Yandabo signed between the British and the Burmese king on February 24, 1826, ended the first Anglo-Burmese War. This treaty started British rule in Assam.
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"Influenced by this concept and that Assam was forcefully included in India post-Independence, 10,000 youths took up arms and fought for sovereignty," he said referring to the insurgency in the northeastern state.
Mentioning the recent celebration of 400 years of birth of Ahom general Lachit Borphukan, the CM claimed that when he was in school, the only thing he knew about the Saraighat battle was four names -- Lachit Borphukan, Ram Singh, Aurangzeb and Bagh Hazarika.
“The Leftists did not want us to know about the Saraighat battle. They tried to project it as a battle of territory only as Lachit and Bagh were on one side while Aurangzeb and Ram Singh were on the other, meaning Hindu-Muslim on both sides," he added.
Ismail Siddique, popularly known as Bagh Hazarika, was a 17th-century Ahom warrior who fought with Borphukan against the Mughals. He was born in an Assamese Muslim family at Dhekerigaon village near Garhgaon in Sivasagar district.
"Bagh Hazarika has been fictitiously portrayed alongside Lachit Borphukan, but there is no such name if you read the entire history of the Saraighat battle. There may be some folk legend about him, but not mentioned in the formal history," Sarma said.
He clarified that he does not have any objection to the name Bagh Hazarika and said that one lakh people had fought the Saraighat battle, of whom one may be Bagh Hazarika.
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The BJP and the people with its ideology have challenged that concept and they want to free Indian history from the "clutches" of the Left, he added.
"We want to de-Left Indian history. Because India's history was not of defeat and subjugation. Aurangzeb wanted to Islamise India, but it did not happen. The resistance movements were not known. A concept was instilled that Indians are a subjugated community," Sarma said.
The Leftists want to portray a picture of frustration, while the people have to take inspiration from victory in Indian history, he claimed.
"We have to challenge the attempt to distort Indian history with a logical mindset. We need to study true Indian and Assamese history," Sarma said.
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The chief minister also criticised the Congress and claimed the opposition party considers India as a 'nation state' and it comprises some geographical entities.
India is an identity of people's culture, religion, rivers and mountains, Sarma said.
CPI(M)'s Assam state secretary Suprakash Talukdar, however, begged to differ.
“It is just the opposite. The Hindu-Muslim politics practised by the BJP is causing irreparable damage to the Assamese community,” he said.
For the unity and integrity of Assam and its different communities, 50 CPI(M) cadres have laid down their lives and “it was the RSS who engineered these murders during the Assam Agitation", Talukdar claimed.
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-With PTI Input
