Assam Oppn demands Himanta’s resignation over Kuki militant leader’s claim – aabtak24

Guwahati, Jun 15, 2023, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Guwahati, June 15 (IANS) Opposition leaders in Assam are demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after a claim by a Kuki militant leader about an alleged “deal” between the BJP and his outfit to help the saffron party to win the 2017 state Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, surfaced.

The Trinamool Congress on Thursday also alleged that Sarma is encouraging the terrorists to operate in the northeastern states.

In a two-page letter sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 7, 2019, S.S. Haokip, chief of the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF), claimed that Sarma and Ram Madhav, who were in charge of the BJP in Manipur then, had taken his help to install a a saffron party-led government in the hill state.

The letter was filed with an affidavit and submitted as an annexure in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Imphal on June 8 this year in connection to a 2018 case involving missing government weapons.

Haokip, a defendant in the case who was charged in 2019, has asked for an exemption.

“I took a very important role in the formation of the BJP-led government in the state. To be very frank had these been not supported by us it would have been almost impossible to install the BJP-led government in the state. In the recently concluded Parliamentary Election, BJP candidate secured almost 80-90 percent votes within the area of our operation,” Haokip’s letter reportedly mentioned.

After the letter came to light, the opposition leaders trained their guns on Sarma.

Assam Trinamool Congress president Ripun Bora wrote on Twitter: “If the GOI can use central agencies like CBI & ED against opposition leaders all the time, then why GOI is silent on the allegations of Assam CM Himanta Biswa being involved with Kuki militants in the Manipur election?”

He also asked why Sarma has not been arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) yet and demanded his resignation.

“Sarma is the convenor of NEDA. If the NEDA convenor himself has links with extremist groups, he is clearly encouraging terrorists to operate in the northeastern states.”

Meanwhile, Bhupen Borah, the Assam Congress president also demanded Sarma’s arrest under the NSA.

The opposition party also held a hunger strike in Guwahati on Wednesday on the alleged ties between Sarma and Kuki militant leaders.

“For the first time, we have heard that a Chief Minister met militants to win polls,” said Borah.

“A militant group’s leader said this. We are eager to watch whether the BJP high command takes action against Sarma,” he added.