Noted Bollywood and Assamese singer Zubeen Garg | File Photo
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar
GUWAHATI
Popular Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, who was on the forefront of the movement in opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, has requested the individuals of Assam to oppose the Centre’s bid to create a Kamatapur state.
He follows two main ethnic communities – Bodos and Rabhas – and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a minor ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in talking out in opposition to the attainable bifurcation of Assam as a part of the peace take care of the extremist Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO).
The KLO caters to the aspirations of the Koch-Rajbongshi neighborhood scattered throughout northern West Bengal and western Assam moreover Bangladesh. The KLO’s map of Kamatapur overlaying giant swathes of Assam and West Bengal contains the Bodoland Territorial Region and components of the proposed Gorkhaland.
“I have heard that Assam will be divided again. You have to oppose it by all means,” Mr. Garg instructed an viewers at a operate in western Assam’s Goalpara Saturday night.
“If you let this happen, you will need a voter card of Kamatapur despite being born in Assam. I want to tell the (Narendra) Modi government from this stage not to pursue it (division of Assam),” the singer stated.
AGP legislator Phani Bhusan Choudhury had earlier raised his voice in opposition to the Kamatapur transfer. “We don’t want another division of Assam,” he stated.
Assam has been divided a number of occasions starting with the ceding of Sylhet (excluding Karimganj subdivision) to Pakistan in 1947, the creation of Nagaland in 1963 and Meghalaya in 1972 (each as States) and the Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in 1972. The final two grew to become States greater than a decade later.
Bodo and Rabha communities additionally requested the federal government to make sure that they don’t get affected by the creation of Kamatapur. Some communities in West Bengal opposed the concept too.
In 2022, Ananta Ray Maharaj, a descendent of the Cooch Behar royal household, stated a plan was afoot for the creation of a Centre-controlled State.
The buzz round Kamatapur has grown stronger after the reported give up of KLO chairman Jibon Singha and a few of his associates earlier than safety forces in Nagaland. The KLO leaders had been holed out in Myanmar.
Last week, Mr. Singha stated in an announcement that the KLO management would attain India quickly to take part in peace talks. He stated the talks can be aimed toward restoring the “status quo” of the historic Kamatapur State.
“I am very happy to inform you all that the process of bilateral discussion between the Government of India and KLO on the issue of the people of Koch-Kamatapur has reached its final stage,” he said.
