Congress today restructured its North-East coordination committee with Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma as convener as part of attempts to retain hold in the region, which, the party alleged, is being "actively destabilised" by BJP.
Announcing the Committee, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the committee has been set up to protect the inclusive character of the north-east region as BJP and RSS have made "insidious attempts" to communally polarise it.
"In order to protect the very inclusive character of North Eastern India, in order to preserve its unity and diversity, the Congress President and Congress Vice President have reconstituted the North East Co-ordination Committee," he told reporters.
He was flanked by Sangma, former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki and AICC Secretary incharge Jai Kumar.
The North East Congress Coordination Committee will have Lal Thawala, chief minister of Mizoram, Okram Ibobi Singh, chief minister of Manipur, D D Lapung, Meghalaya PCC chief, besides state Congress chiefs of Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal and Sikkim as its members.
Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and former chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur are permanent invitees to the committee.
Tewari said "in the past 28 months, one thing has become very evident that both the BJP and the Central Government have been working overtime to destabilize North Eastern India.
"Their inability to manage the larger geo-strategic environment, has resulted in repeated intrusions by Chinese into Arunachal Pradesh," he said, adding that there was a major intrusion in June 2016, another intrusion in Sept 2016 and two days ago in Demchok in Ladakh where there is stand-off between PLA and Indian Army over construction of an Irrigation Canal under MNREGA Scheme.
"In addition to that, there is the whole spectre of internal subversion, the repeated destabilization of elected Congress Government notwithstanding, very severe strictures which were passed by none other than the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.
"Coupled with that, you have this very insidious attempt by the RSS and the BJP to try and communally polarize the North Eastern part of India. The statement by one of the Assam Ministers, who is part of the purported North East Democratic Alliance, is reprehensible, is shameful and deserves to be condemned in the strongest possible terms," he said.
Sangma said the platform will look at issues in North East, bring leaders onto one platform and "ensure that we protect the region from agendas which are detrimental".
"We look forward to serving the people, because our mandate is to carry forwardagendas which are in sync with the aspirations of the people," he said.
BJP recently formed a North-East Democratic Alliance headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congressman who is seen as number two in the new BJP government in Assam.
Tuki said there are various issues with the present
government, like non-release of funds as per the Finance Commission to the states and curtailment of many of the major infrastructural development funds.
"Instead of strengthening the Look East Policy, Central government has been withdrawing all powers and development policies," he alleged, adding that the Forum would raise all these issues with the Centre.
Sangma said North East India has its own inherent complexities and it is important for leaders who are familiar with them to deal with the issues there.
"There is no other party apart from the Congress whose leaders have been able to create great change in NE India," he said. It is their responsibility to look at issues of the North East and to address them in the right perspective by bringing in leaders on to one platform, he added.
"The focus will be to also insulate the region from the various other agendas which is going to be the in interest of the Region and the country as a whole," he said.
Referring to Tewari's statements, the Meghalaya chief minister said it will be the endeavour of Congress leaders to come together and address these concerns in the North-East.
"Coming together of all these leaders under this platform definitely will benefit our region as a whole. We look towards the people because the mandate for any political party is to carry forward the agenda which is aligned with the aspirations and the expectations of the people," he said.
Former Arunachal chief minister Nabam Tuki said the restructured body will unite the North East as one family and strengthen the Congress at the grassroots besides bringing co-ordination among all states in the region.
"This will bring together all the other organisations on common platform to resolve the issues," he said.
"We have various issues with present government including the non-release of our rightful grants-in-aid as well as Finance Commission's money to the states. They have curtailed all the important projects and have also withdrawn our North East Industrial Investment Policy which was granted by the UPA-I Government," Tuki said.
While CLP leaders in Assam and Tripura, Debabrata Saikia and Gopal Rao are its members, former Arunachal chief ministers P Khandu Thungan, Mukut Mithi, former Meghalaya CM S C Marak, former Assam CMs Tarun Gogoi and Bhumidhar Barman, former Manipur CM Rishang Keishing and former Nagaland CM K L Tishi are permanent invitees to the committee.
