PM Indira Gandhi gives Assam Cabinet green signal to initiate discussions with agitating student leaders

If the mountain will not come to Mohammed then he must go to the mountain. So it came to pass that Mrs Gandhi's long-delayed whirlwind tour of the troubled north-east states last fortnight once again placed the prickly Assam issue back on the front pages and added yet another convoluted chapter to the 18-month-old agitation saga. It also once again forcibly demonstrated the Central Government's futile efforts to break the stalemate over the festering foreigners issue. Mrs Gandhi, for instance, gave the Assam Cabinet the green signal to initiate discussions with agitating student leaders. Immediately, state Home Minister Ramesh Saharia and Finance Minister Keshab Gogoi launched a frenetic effort to crack open the impasse. Their efforts were abruptly and effectively halted in midstream when, a week later, Home Minister Zail Singh announced in Parliament that the Assam agitation leaders would be invited to New Delhi later this month for talks. Zail Singh's announcement caught most observers by surprise since the state Government and local Congress(I) legislators had been galvanised by Mrs Gandhi's directive to "open up channels of communication with the students". After cold-shouldering the students ever since the Anwara Taimur Government was sworn in last December, suddenly the shoe was on the other foot as senior Congress(I) leaders fell over each other in a bid to meet the students and assure them of their desire to break the impasse. Zail Singh's statement put a brake on their efforts and also initiated speculations that the Home Ministry had been given some kind of an assurance that next month's negotiations would finally solve the Assam issue. In fact, Mrs Gandhi during her visit had made it clear to her party-men that unless New Delhi had definite assurances that the next round of discussions would yield positive results, the Government was not prepared to resume formal discussions with the students.Wary: On their part, the All Assam Student's Union (AASU) leaders welcomed the home minister's statement. Though they have been willing to talk informally with state legislators, the fiasco over the discussions initiated by Dorendra Singh, ex-chief minister of Manipur, have made them wary of state level politicians. It is likely, in that context, that the next round of talks will hinge on the 1967 base year formula initiated by Governor L.P. Singh. Student leaders had met Singh several times in both Gauhati and Shillong prior to his departure and it is widely known that Singh himself had been working overtime to bridge the gap between the students and the administration and was keen to find a solution before completing his Assam stint. Singh was officially to retire last month but the sudden death of governor-designate R.K. Vyas gave him an unexpected extension.Mrs Gandhi in Assam: A long delayed tourThere are strong indications that a majority of students is now agreeable to accepting 1967 as a compromise figure. There has been a discernible softening of attitudes among the hardliners in AASU and the Gana Sangram Parishad (GSP) and the leaders now seem equally keen to arrive at some solid understanding with the Centre.Said Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, AASU's general secretary: "The time for discussions is now. Once the next phase of the agitation begins, holding negotiations would be difficult." However hopeful they sound about next month's talks, AASU is taking care to ensure that the next phase of the agitation unfolds smoothly in case the talks break down once again. In fact, some GSP leaders pessimistically feel that the Government's latest move is designed to buy time and stall the start of the agitation's next phase. "At the moment," said Nibaran Bora, firebrand president of the Purbanchaliya Loka Parishad (PLP), "they (the Centre) need an agreement more than we do." However, the fly in the ointment could prove to be the GSP. Notwithstanding the differences between the GSP and AASU, the Government will have to keep in mind that AASU would not enter into an agreement with the Centre without taking the GSP into confidence.The general public in Assam has viewed the latest moves as a silver lining in what has been an increasingly depressing scenario. The recent spate of violent subversive activity in the state has evoked the realisation that if the extremists gain the upper hand, Assam would be immersed in a bloodbath. The brutal killing of Divisional Commissioner E. Parthasarthy last month and the increase of sabotage has once again brought about the realisation both within the Government and among the people, that an urgent end to the stalemate is of critical importance. In that context, this month's meeting holds the key to the Assam crisis. Given the current mood of optimism, the prospects of a final solution are brighter than they have ever been before. But there is also the frightening realisation that if the talks fail once again, Assam will be in for another bloody bout of violence of unimaginable dimensions.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Feb 26, 2014 13:52 IST--- ENDS ---

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PM Indira Gandhi gives Assam Cabinet green signal to initiate discussions with agitating student leaders

Mrs Gandhi gave the Assam Cabinet the green signal to initiate discussions with agitating student leaders. Immediately, state Home Minister Ramesh Saharia and Finance Minister Keshab Gogoi launched a frenetic effort to crack open the impasse.

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