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North East : BJP’s six-point development Agenda

	September 22, 2003

The ruling BJP at the Centre which has been facing some rough weather in the North, continues to strengthen its presence in the troubled north-east. In a significant development last week, the BJP rallied 17 parties under the banner of North East People’s Forum with a six-point agenda to “rid” the region of its inherent problems.

Though the leaders of the forum maintained that the front did not have any electoral agenda, its mover and shaker former Lok Sabha Speaker and founder leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) P.A. Sangma did not rule out its possibility of finally assuming such a role.

Another senior NCP leader and general secretary of the front B.B. Dutta was more candid in admitting that after its formal launch, the front has rolled out the “red carpet” to the BJP-led Nationalist Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the North East.

The NCP, which has an alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra, is a key constituent of the nascent front. Sangma said the BJP was more focused on the development of the region.

Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee also attended the inaugural session as an observer. The front also toed the BJP line on contentious issues like influx of illegal migrants by saying that Hindu migrants from Bangladesh should be treated sympathetically.

“Hapless minorities who have crossed the border for security of life, property and protection of their women need not be equated with economically oppressed sections of a dominant majority of a foreign land seeking economic rehabilitation,” the front’s resolution on infiltration said.

The influential public organisations, including the AASU and the Opposition AGP were against treating the issue of illegal migrants on religious lines.

The front lambasted the Congress and the CPM, accusing them of using illegal migrants as a votebank.

The forum demanded the immediate repeal of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act by adopting an “appropriate legislation” to deal with the detection and deportation of illegal migrants and called for a time-bound programme for issuing identity cards to genuine citizens by taking March 25, 1971 as a cut-off date. Sangma said the identity cards should be issued within six months.

A seven-member committee, headed by the NCP’s Assam unit president Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, was formed to examine the issue in its entirety to prepare a “foolproof case” for repealing the IMDT Act. The committee has to submit its findings and recommendations to the chairman of the forum within 30 days.

Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio has been elected as chairman of the front. A similar committee on insurgency will be headed by Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga while a committee on good governance and political reforms will be headed by Sikkim chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang will head the committee on electoral reforms and former Manipur chief minister R.K. Dorendra Singh will be the chairperson of the committee on unemployment. Sangma will head the committee on infrastructure development and border trades.



AGP reaction

The P.A. Sangma-conceived forum of non-Congress parties of the Northeast got a jolt on the eve of its formal launch with the largest regional party of the region, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), declining to join any such alliance.

The political affairs committee of the AGP decided not to be part of any political forum of which either the BJP or the Congress is a constituent. Former minister and AGP leader Chandramohan Patowary said after the meeting that his party would maintain “equal distance” from the Congress and the BJP.

Before the announcement, leaders of the Northeast People’s Forum had hoped the AGP would agree to be a part of the alliance. The reason for their optimism was former Assam chief minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s recent statement about his party being open to the idea.

When the moment of reckoning came, the AGP opted out, saying the forum had been formed with an eye on the Lok Sabha election and to further the interests of the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance.

“We fail to understand why the BJP, which has not done anything for the development of the region during the past five years, should suddenly address all the problems confronting the region,” Patowary said.

He accused the leaders behind the forum of hijacking the AGP’s agenda. Sangma refuted the allegation, saying the nascent forum had no electoral agenda. He said it was just a conglomerate of “like-minded” parties that wanted to solve the problems of the region.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker told the media that the Congress and the Left had been kept out of the forum not because of political reasons, but on account of differences over the way the problems of the region should be solved.

Sangma said the Congress’ stand on the illegal influx of foreign migrants into the region was different from the views of the parties that had come together to form the regional alliance.

Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, the convener of the forum, said Assam had become a springboard for illegal migrants wanting to enter its neighbouring states.

Taking a dig at the Tarun Gogoi government, he said it was difficult for these states to deport illegal migrants because whenever they are caught, these people produce citizenship documents issued in Assam. “The number of illegal migrants in Nagaland has increased to about a lakh.”

Rio said the subjects committee of the forum had decided to focus on insurgency, illegal migration with reference to the proposed repeal of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, infrastructure development with special reference to border trade, unemployment, electoral reform and good governance.



Congress conclave : Accuses BJP of courting militants

The Congress party has accused the BJP of courting militants in a bid to grab power in the north-east, and has demanded a thorough inquiry into the politician-militant nexus in the region.

AICC secretary Dalbir Singh told the media in Guwahati on Sept. 18 on his return from the two-day conclave of the North East Congress Co-ordination Committee (NECCC) in Shillong that the BJP apparently had no qualms about endangering the nation’s security to sate its lust for power.

The NECCC meeting, which concluded on Sept. 16, was held after a gap of two years. It was meant to be a regrouping exercise after the electoral setback in Nagaland and the fall of the Mukut Mithi government in Arunachal Pradesh.

Singh said the BJP’s “self-centred and partisan” attitude was reflected in its “nefarious designs” on the northeast. He said the Congress would take it up with the Union home ministry soon.

The AICC leader claimed that after Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP was focusing on Manipur and Meghalaya. He said the party had approached seven Congress legislators in one of these states with “all kinds of allurements”.

On the first day of the Shillong conclave, outgoing NECCC chairman and former Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir blamed the Congress high command’s complacency for the BJP’s surge in the region.

In response to Jamir’s appeal to look inwards for the causes behind the recent setbacks, the NECCC decided to “go back to the people with a concrete agenda for socio-economic development of the region”.

The meeting decided to set up an economic committee at the AICC level to prepare a “vision paper” on economic development. Singh said the Congress units of each state of the region would make presentations before the committee to help it frame a comprehensive policy.

The NECCC meeting ended with senior party leaders of the region and the AICC representatives agreeing on the need for better co-ordination and understanding between them to stop the BJP and its allies from making inroads into the region.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said the Northeast had always been on the party’s list of priorities and would remain so. “The meeting enabled us to come to terms with the fact that there are certain areas in which we need to pull up our socks and strengthen ourselves. The reflections of the outgoing chairman and others have given us a direction and we are looking at ways and means to give the cutting edge to the NECCC,” he said.