Creation of Bangladesh wasn't good for Assam, Indira Gandhi missed chance to solve key issues: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
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Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that creation of Bangladesh was never good news for people of Assam Prime minister Indira Gandhi could have negotiated the problem of chicken neck and illegal immigrants while creating Bangladesh.He also urged the Government of India to remove the words 'Secular' and 'Socialist' from the Preamble of the Constitution. Sarma alleged that the Facebook account of Assam Youth Congress is being operated from Saudi Arabia.Sarma told media persons on Saturday, 'People credit Prime minister Indira Gandhi for creation of Bangladesh; however creation of Bangladesh was never a good news for the people of Assam. She could have negotiated chicken neck which she did not. She could have asked Bangladesh to take back all the refugees who came at that time, but she did not do this. As a result, Assamese people till today are struggling with an identity crisis.'He said, 'History must be neutrally assessed if creation of Bangladesh was a blessing for India or a disaster.'Sarma on Saturday appealed to the Central government to remove the words "secularism" and "socialism" from the preamble of the Indian Constitution.Sarma said this in his address while releasing a book 'The Emergency Diary', published by Bluekraft Digital Foundation that chronicled the dark chapter of the Emergency.The Chief Minister, while strongly criticizing the 1975 Emergency, said that it was not a result of any national or international crisis but a calculated political conspiracy by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi solely to protect her position."The way the Prime minister of India is working to wipe out the colonial legacy from India, the same way we should try to wipe out the legacy of emergency. Two important legacy of emergency is insertion of two words "secularism" and "socialism" in our Constitution. I think the word secularism is against "sarva dharma sambhava" which is an Indian concept. Again, socialism was never our economic concept. Our concept was "sarvodaya antyodaya". As such I appeal to the central government to drop these two words from the preamble of our constitution which was inserted by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,"Sarna told reporters.He emphasised that Indira Gandhi not only violated democratic principles but also undermined the very spirit of the Constitution by amending its Preamble in 1976 through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment — inserting the words ' Socialist' and 'Secular'. "The Government of India must remove the words ' Socialist' and 'Secular' from the Preamble and restore it to its original form as envisioned by the Constitution's architects, including Dr. B.R. Ambedkar," said the Assam Chief minister.Sarma stated in X, 'The Facebook account of Assam Youth Congress is being operated from Saudi Arabia. On such serious matters related to national security, we all need to be more vigilant and aware.'
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