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The Assam State unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has expressed grave concern over the design of Islamic fundamentalists of Bangladesh to create a 'greater Bangladesh' comprising Assam, neighbouring Tripura and parts of West Bengal.
The fundamentalist groups, with the active backing of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of America and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan are working overtime to cede the North-east to Bangladesh under the design, posing a serious threat to the integrity of Assam as well as the whole country, said Promode Gogoi, CPI national executive member, while addressing newsmen in the party headquarters here today.
The CPI has decided to deal with the issue in its forthcoming 19th State conference to start from February 25 at Sivasagar, Gogoi said. "We will try to chalk out a strategy in the ensuing conference to thwart the Islamist design," he said.
CPI general secretary AB Bardhan, Central Secretariat member of the party and MP Gurudas Dasgupta as well as national executive member and cabinet minister of Manipur P Parijat Singh are expected to attend the three-day long conference. They will address the open session on the inaugural day. According to the reports received from various channels about the Islamist-ISI-CIA design regarding the North-east, the current situation is very grave, Gogoi said.
Accusing the CIA of being the originator of the design, Gogoi recalled that it had put into operation its secret mission codenamed 'Operation Brahmaputra', to destabilize the North-east, which has immense strategic importance due to its geographical location and natural resources. Gogoi said, America never wants India to emerge as a strong power in this region like China because it would be a great challenge to them, both in military and economic fronts, he added.
"We would not like to attach the name of any particular religion to this issue like the BJP, but we are concerned because the issue is related to the sovereignty of India, and it has to be tackled carefully," the veteran communist leader cautioned.
Besides, the CPI has demanded that the number of Assembly seats in all the districts of Assam must be kept as they are now. Gogoi expressed concern over reports that as a result of the ongoing delimitation process, the number of the Assembly seats of some upper Assam districts like Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia will be decreased as per the population ratio formula adopted for in the process. He alleged that some middle and lower Assam districts will gain more seats following the delimitation process because the population of these districts have shown 'abnormal growth', "which may have been caused by large-scale illegal influx." Until the detection and deportation of illegal migrants are completed, the structure of district-wise Assembly seats must not be changed, he demanded.
On the ULFA problem, the CPI has
welcomed the effort of Mamoni Raisom Goswami to bring the militant
outfit to the negotiation table. Gogoi appealed to both the Centre
and the ULFA to declare a ceasefire to pave the way for unconditional
talks for the greater interest of Assam.
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