Kolkata: Brushing aside questions about his attending a conference of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed organisation, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Saturday said there was nothing in the Constitution prohibiting him from doing that.
Mr. Roy was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a conference on border security organised by the RSS-backed Seemanta Chetana Mancha. The two-day conference, titled Bharat Bangladesh Border, started on Saturday.
“There is no prohibition in the Constitution (on a Governor attending a conference held by the RSS). I am only bound by the Constitution as interpreted by the courts and not by someone’s personal view,” said Mr. Roy.
During his speech at the conference, Mr. Roy said both the Assamese- and Bengali-speaking Hindus in Assam’s Barak Valley and the Brahmaputra basin were in danger due to infiltration from Bangladesh. The demographic balance in these areas was on the verge of being altered and the Hindus in the state should unite to resolve the issue, he said.
“The situation in the Barak Valley is as such that if the (demographic) balance changes it will be difficult to keep Barak Valley in India. The Assamese- and Bengali-speaking Hindus in Assam have to unite in their struggle against the threat,” said Mr. Roy. He alleged there was “lack of awareness” among the Bengali-speaking Hindus of Barak Valley in this regard and they were still bogged down by the killing of 11 people in police firing in May 1961 in Silchar during the agitation against the state government’s decision to make Assamese the official language of the state.
“Some in Barak Valley even try to bring Bengali nationalism into the issue. This is totally wrong,” said Mr. Roy.
He also claimed that infiltration was steadily changing the demographic and religious balance in West Bengal as well. “While Uttar Dinajpur and Malda have turned into Muslim-majority districts, the Muslim population in Murshidabad, which was already a Muslim-majority district during Partition, has increased from 52% to 65%,” the Tripura Governor said.
