Dibrugarh, Jul 24 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday batted for his government’s decision to give arms licence to indigenous people, saying that they will survive only if firearms are provided to them.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an official function here, Sarma said that “some practical steps” need to be taken in order to reach a “goal”, which he has set, as soon as possible.
“I want the situation in Assam to be explosive. Someday, the situation will be explosive in Assam. How will our people survive if there is an explosion?” he replied when asked if the situation would turn explosive after giving arms licence to common people.
The state cabinet on May 28 had decided that the government would give arms licences to indigenous people living in “vulnerable and remote” areas to instil a sense of security in them.
“They (Assamese people) will survive when there will be licenced arms. My point is clear that Assamese people have learnt to live and they will have to learn how to live. Assamese people won’t survive by doing agitation, but will live by taking practical steps.
“We have taken some practical steps this time, and we will take more practical steps once we win and return to power,” he said, referring to the assembly elections next year.
He also stressed that he is patiently waiting and observing the situation in the state, but did not elaborate further.
“I have an aim and goal. As per rules and regulations of the Constitution, we will have to reach that goal in the shortest possible time,” Sarma said.
After the cabinet decision on arms licence, the CM had addressed a press meet and said some of the districts in the ‘vulnerable and remote area’ were Dhubri, Morigaon, Barpeta, Nagaon and South Salmara-Mankachar, and named some other localities like Rupahi, Dhing and Jania.
The areas and districts that Sarma had mentioned are all minority-dominated places.
The CM had claimed that indigenous people in such areas have been demanding arms licence for safety purposes since the Assam Agitation, which took place in 1979-85.
On July 23, he had said that the public would be able to procure arms licences through a dedicated portal from August.
When pointed to University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque’s announcement that he will support the education of the children whose families were evicted by the Assam government, Sarma said: “I will not object to it.” He said that education should be imparted properly and should not be done as a challenge to the government.
“Making arrangements for education is a good thing, and I will also do the same if any evicted family approaches me for their children’s education purposes. We don’t do politics over children.
“If it’s done for humanity, then no problem. However, if it is done to challenge the government, then he should remember the three-month-old incident,” Sarma said.
Hoque was arrested multiple times since February this year after a series of cases were registered across the state over the controversy related to promising students to allow unfair means in exams.
He was also embroiled in a controversy last year over his OBC certificate, which he had allegedly obtained “fraudulently” in Sribhumi district in the 1990s.
Sarma, in August last year, had held USTM and Hoque responsible for “flood jihad” against Guwahati, claiming that the water flowing down from the varsity campus, which is located on a hill adjacent to the city, led to repeated massive flooding. PTI TR TR SOM
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