Assam Finance Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the state wants to bring Sharjeel Imam, who had threatened to cut off the Northeast from India, to Guwahati for questioning.
With this, life has gone full circle for Imam, who had only recently made it to the headlines for threatening to cut off Assam from India. He had said that with the help of only 5 lakh people, his gang could easily engineer the break-up of India by amputating Northeast from the rest of the country. Now, it seems he would likely be interrogated in the same state that he wanted to cut off from India.
Imam had said, “Cutting off Assam is our responsibility. Let Assam and India be separated, only then they will listen to us. You know what the condition of Muslims is in Assam, CAA, NRC has been done over there, people have been thrown in detention camps and well, the massacre is taking place over there but in the next 6-8 months, we will find that all Bengalis have been killed, be it Hindu or Muslim. So, if we want to help Assam, we ill have to close the gateway to the Northeast.”
He had also made a reference to the Chicken’s Neck, a 22 kilometre narrow stretch of land which connects the Northeast with the rest of India and is crucial for the country’s security. Threatening to block this narrow and crucial stretch, Sharjeel Imam had said, “The Chicken’s neck belongs to the Muslims, that area is dominated by Muslims.”
But now, only days after he made these objectionable remarks, it seems that he would be interrogated in Assam, the very state that Imam wanted to severe from the rest of India not very long ago.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has said, “We have already made the requisition (based on a case filed here on Wednesday by Assam Police). We want Sarjeel Imam in Guwahati because we apprehend that the violence we have seen in Guwahati on December 11 and 12 must have some connection with his outcry…”
Meanwhile, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta has also said that the Assam Police will bring Imam to Guwahati after taking a production warrant for interrogation. With this move, the Assam government has taken a commendable decision. Last month, the state had witnessed large scale violence and Imam made reprehensible remarks a few days ago. A sinister conspiracy behind such violence and comments cannot be ruled out, and interrogating Imam might just led to some new revelations.