GUWAHATI: Like every year, this time also the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has opposed the celebration of 75th Independence Day stating that Assam was never a part of colonial India.
The outfit said it has given blood for the freedom of the state of Assam and is ready for more bloodshed for its independence from India. ULFA however has said that it is not going to declare any bandh on that particular day.
Citing the Treaty of Yandaboo, on Feb 24, 1826, the outfit said that in the second article of the treaty both Burma and British India had accepted the sovereignty of Assam and it was not transferred to British India by the document.
The outfit also stated that ULFA’s struggle for “restoration on sovereignty is based on historical fact”. It said British India did not conquer Assam and then annexed it to the country and so “there is no question of victor and vanquished.”
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ULFA also said that they are ready for discussion on this matter, but they are not going to do that by ignoring historical facts and the objective of the outfit.
It has asked the Indian government to give the communities the “Right to secede” from India by amending the constitution or arrange a plebiscite among the people by showing the true essence of democracy.
“India has so far amended the constitution for the 104th time. Why can’t it amend once more to sit for a discussion with us?” it questioned.
The outfit said, in the backdrop of the Covid -19 pandemic, border conflict between South-Asian regions, floods and erosion and problems of unemployment, the outfit has restrained itself from declaring “bandh” on Independence Day or from any kind of armed revolution. But it has asked the people to protest democratically by wearing a black badges, unfurling black flags on Independence Day.
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