Call for separation of Barak Valley from Assam, "That is the only solution," says lawyer Pradip Dutta Roy

The All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students’ Association’s founder-president Pradip Dutta Roy on Wednesday demanded that Barak Valley be separated from Assam.

Barak Valley comprises three districts – Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi. It is located in the southern part of Assam.

Roy, who is also an advocate at Gauhati High Court, said a news conference held at Silchar Circuit House this afternoon that the bitterness between the citizens of Barak Valley and Brahmaputra Valley has immensely increased over issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and as such separation of Barak Valley seems to be the only solution, he said.

He said people of Barak Valley do not want to live with people of Brahmaputra Valley anymore. The divide is widening day-by-day, he remarked.

Various organisations are being contacted and a series of movements will soon be initiated in connection with their demand for separation of the valley from Assam.

“The time has come for us all to unite and raise our voices in unison for the separation of this valley. The fight will be long, the fight will be tough,” he said.

On pro-talks leader Jiten Dutta’s threatening statement that he would come to Barak Valley with 1000 cadres to garner support against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, he questioned why the government did not take any action against him till date.

He also slammed a section of media from Brahmaputra Valley for criticising the former vice-chancellor of Assam University and the chairman of Citizens’ Rights Protection Co-Ordination Committee Tapodhir Bhattacharjee for an article written by him over the NRC issue which was published in a Bengali newspaper of West Bengal recently.