TMC leader Sushmita Dev writes scathing letter to PM Modi, Urges Government to not treat Barak Valley as colony of Assam

TMC leader Sushmita Dev penned a detailed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, shedding light on what she describes as the systematic deprivation of Barak Valley by governments both at the central and state levels. In her strongly-worded letter, Dev brought to light various issues faced by the residents of Barak Valley, particularly focusing on the recent delimitation exercise that has impacted the region’s political representation.

The Delimitation exercise, which was officially initiated on August 16, 2023, has drawn criticism from Dev due to the merger of two assembly seats in the Districts of Hailakandi and Karimganj, ultimately reducing the total number of seats in the region from 15 to 13. Dev highlights the impact this has on the Valley’s political voice and asserts that while delimitation is a constitutional process, the use of outdated census data from 2001 which was carried twenty years ago has resulted in a skewed representation.

In her letter, Dev criticized both the central Law Ministry and the Election Commission of India for their handling of the delimitation process. She argued that the absence of public representatives in the decision-making process and the lack of suitable amendments to legislation have undermined the democratic nature of the exercise. After the draft proposal of delimitation was made public, the Government of Assam chose to lodge it’s objections to ECI but did not raise any objection about reducing the seats of two districts – Hailakandi and Karimganj. Less populated areas in other parts of Assam gained seats at the cost of Barak Valley. As delimitation can’t be challenged under Article 329 of the constitution, it was more imperative for the Assam Government to stand with the people of Barak Valley before finalising the draft. Instead, the elected representatives as well as the organization of BJP were mute spectators to the injustice whom Dev termed powerless before the Chief Minister of Assam.

Furthermore, Dev took issue with the role of the Chief Minister of Assam, accusing him of treating the delimitation process as a political tool for suitably changing electoral outcomes rather than a constitutional mechanism. The CM brazenly declared that the delimitation process in Assam would attain what the updating of NRC and inking of the Assam Accord could not achieve. The CM’s statements and actions have not only hindered the interests of the people of Barak Valley but have also been divisive and counterproductive. Countering the arguments of the CM, Dev stated that the Government of India turned the Supreme Court monitored NRC process into a mockery as millions of people residing in Assam went from pillar to post to show their legacy data documents during the NRC updation process but the Government came out with a flawed NRC after spending about Rs. 1,600 crores and rather than rectifying it, simply put it in the cold storage. Afterwards, the Government set up a fourteen member committee headed by Retired Justice of High Court Biplab Kumar Sharma in 2019 to define “Assamese” people which was a futile exercise without completing the NRC process. It was a gimmick to douse the protests in Assam over a half baked discriminatory law brought in as Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.

The TMC leader also highlighted several unfulfilled promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the region elaborating a “saga of betrayal”, ranging from local job reservations and infrastructure projects like museum to the revival of public sector industries. Dev specifically mentioned the closure of Cachar Paper Mill, the non-functional Mini Secretariat office in Silchar and the slow progress of the Mahasadak project, criticizing the government for failing to deliver on its commitments. She called attention to the incomplete status of the District Library in Silchar, an essential cultural institution in Cachar District. The letter also touched upon the unfulfilled promises related to Silchar’s designation as a Smart City, as well as the unfulfilled promise of building a flyover in the town calling it a “jumla”.

The letter mentioned the lack of municipal elections in Silchar and the subsequent impact on corruption within the bureaucracy. Dev criticized the absence of elections under the garb of converting the Silchar Municipality Board to Corporation and contrasted this with the timely elections held in Dibrugarh.

Further, the letter accused the Assam government of displacing workers and uprooting thousands of tea bushes without proper legal documentation, citing the case of Dolu Tea estate. The Cachar District administration used brutal force to acquire the land without any sort of transparency.

The TMC leader expressed dismay over the handling of law and order during the delimitation process in Barak Valley, claiming that protests and gatherings were suppressed and quelled by the administration. The letter, underscored the unique circumstances of Barak Valley, which houses a significant concentration of linguistic minorities that have historically coexisted peacefully with other communities in Assam. Dev pointed out that, unlike other regions which gained separate statehood in the 1960s like Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, Barak Valley remained part of Assam while coexisting peacefully with every other community in Assam.

She drew attention to the apparent erosion of constitutional safeguards, particularly those under Article 350B, which were intended to protect linguistic minorities and emphasised that the last report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in 2015 revealed a lack of data from the Assam government, leaving the status of safeguards for linguistic minorities in the state uncertain. This, she argued, was a breach of constitutional provisions.

Dev maintained that the reduction in assembly seats had diminished the community’s political voice, a critical safeguard for any minority group. She suggested that the Assam government’s silence on this issue, alongwith the alleged application of an “absurd formula” for seat allocation, hinted at a biased approach.

Highlighting the peaceful coexistence of various communities in Barak Valley and its significant economic, social, and political contributions to Assam, the TMC leader urged the Government to not treat Barak Valley as a mere colony of the state. She referred to Article 371 (A-3) applied in areas like Vidharba and Marathawada in Maharashtra, as an example of the constitution’s ability to accommodate diverse regional aspirations within a state hinting the PM that it can be applied incase of Barak Valley too.

Dev concluded her letter with a poignant plea to the Prime Minister, expressing her hope that her concerns would resonate and lead to a reconsideration of Barak Valley’s political empowerment. She warned that history would remember the disempowerment of Barak Valley during his current tenure, emphasizing the need for equity and inclusivity in governance.