The Assam Congress, on Tuesday, came out all guns blazing against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, slamming him for his remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Our attention has been drawn to the misplaced and unwarranted criticism of our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for the former’s recent remarks at the Ideas for India event at the Cambridge University in London,” Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said in a statement on Tuesday.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks at the Ideas for India conference at Cambridge University in London.
The Assam chief minister termed the remarks of Rahul Gandhi as “fake intellectualism”.
“This is the height of fake intellectualism! Assam never ‘negotiated peace’ with India. With Gandhiji’s support, Gopinath Bordoloi had to struggle to keep Assam with Bharat Mata since Nehru left us to be with Pakistan as per Cabinet Mission Plan. Get your facts right, Mr Gandhi,” Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had tweeted.
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Reacting to it, Assam Congress chief Bhupen Borah said: “…to attribute Rahul ji’s observation to ‘fake intellectualism’ and an attempt to encourage separatism is utterly misplaced.”
“…we want to point out that the Assam chief minister and his party, the BJP, are known for distorting facts and for their blatant disregard for the idea of India,” the Assam Congress chief further said.
Borah said: “Sarma does not even agree to India being a Union of States even though Article 1 of the Constitution of India declares India as a Union of states.”
“We also take this opportunity to remind him about some basic facts about our history: There were 565 princely states and 17 provinces before Independence. There was the Instrument of Accession, a legal document first introduced by the Government of India Act 1935 and used in 1947 to enable each princely states under British India to join one of the new dominions of India or Pakistan after the Partition in 1947. Assam became a part of dominion of India in 1947 and then a constituent state of India in 1950,” Bhupen Borah said.
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Rahul Gandhi in his remarks at the Ideas for India conference at Cambridge University in London said: “What emerged out of freedom movement was a negotiation between these states and identities and religion. So, India emerged bottom-up and all these states UP, Maharashtra, Assam, and Tamil Nadu got together and negotiated peace. From this union of states, which required a conversation, emerged the instrument of that conversation- the Constitution, the idea that one man will have one vote, the election system, the IITs, and the IIMs.”
Reacting to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations of Rahul Gandhi of “encouraging separatism” from foreign soil, the Assam Congress chief recalled a statement issued by ULFA-I chief Paresh Baruah, wherein he “called Himanta Biswa Sarma as former colleague”.
“The ULFA in a statement issued in December 2011 had said that Himanta Biswa Sarma left the organisation because he lacked in-depth knowledge of ULFA’s movement,” Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah said.