Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that the Assam-Mizoram border dispute has risen because of "Congress legacy error", adding that the party did not want North East to "remain united".
Sarma in an interview with Times Now blamed Congress for border disputes, saying it did not demarcate boundaries while carving out new states.
"These are problems which have been created by Congress when they carved out these states from Assam. The clashes are between two states not between two political parties. When border of Assam and Mizoram was designed, it was designed in a vague manner. This is why since 1983, border clashes started between Assam and neighbouring states," the Chief Minister said.
"I believe that Congress did not want North East to remain united. Many people have written articles on this," he added.
Sarma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deeply pained by the border clash and is ready to take any initiative to resolve it, he said in the interview.
"PM Narendra Modi spoke to me right at the beginning of the dispute. He is extremely pained. He feels that northeastern states should remain united and contribute towards the development of the country. He told that such disputes are painful for the entire nation. He is concerned about the country. He considers Assam-Mizoram border dispute a national issue. He is ready to take any initiative to solve this," he said.
He also said that it was not right to link the recent clash to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to the state.
"When Home Minister visited Assam and Shillong, he advised us to resolve the border dispute. This is a long-run process, this border dispute is not recent… These are long-standing problems and we need to resolve it after discussion and consultation. The visit of the Home Minister and the recent border clash are not related to each other because Amit Shah given us a roadmap to resolve the dispute and his advice was not specific to any particular borders but was about resolving complex issue," Sarma said.
On being asked about the FIR lodged against him after the clash, the Assam CM said he was ready to face any judicial inquiry.
"I'm ready to face any judicial inquiry in connection with Assam-Mizoram border dispute…I even told Mizoram CM that I can join the probe and he started laughing. We have a very good relation with Mizoram," he said.
Commenting on his travel advisory that warned people of Assam from visiting Mizoram, he said that it was a preventive mechanism to ensure peace.
"When there is border flare-up, police are fighting among themselves, people are getting killed, will you advice people to travel that state. That (the advisory) was needed," Sarma said.
