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Opposition slams govt, says North-east action is a repeat of Jammu and Kashmir phenomenon
Alleging that the situation in Kashmir was not “normal” because of the government, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “Now, northeast is turning like Kashmir. Both the North East and Kashmir are of strategic importance.”
The Congress on Thursday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government over the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), saying that it was replicating the Kashmir “phenomena” in the North-east by deploying the Army and banning mobile internet services in the wake of protests. Hitting back, the government accused the Congress of instigating violence in the region.
“From Kashmir to ‘Asmir’ (a term he coined for Assam), there is turmoil everywhere. Already, the Army has been deployed in some parts of Assam, internet services have been discontinued. Kashmir phenomena has been replicated in the northeast region,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said while raising the issued during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha.
Alleging that the situation in Kashmir was not “normal” because of the government, he said: “Now, northeast is turning like Kashmir. Both the North East and Kashmir are of strategic importance.”
Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi hit back and accused Congress of instigating violence in the North-east.
To assert his point, Chowdhury referred to purported remarks of Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and noted that 20,000 Durga Puja pandals were erected in the country.This, he said, contradicts the Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement that minorities were persecuted in Bangladesh.
“We don’t want that our relation with Bangladesh be affected because China and Pakistan are trying to get benefit out of the situation. I want the government to realise this,” Chowdhury added.
Interrupting him, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said: “Bangladesh and the UK cannot run India’s Parliament. In Indian Parliament, rules and procedures will be followed as per Indian Constitution, it will not be guided by any country.”
The issue led to an uproar in the Lok Sabha with treasury benches objecting to Chowdhury’s remarks. The Congress leaders also staged a walkout in protest. Earlier, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad echoed Chowdhury’s views, saying the entire North-east is “burning”.
Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance that the law will not affect the culture and rights of Assamese, Azad said the assurances “don’t really matter when the people are being killed”. Later, Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress too raised the Assam and Tripura situation demanded a statement from the government on this. The TMC MPs, too, walked out of the House in protest.
