Himanta Biswa Sarma-Zoramthanga war of words on Twitter, keeping Amit Shah in the loop

GUWAHATI: As police forces of Assam and Mizoram along with civilians from both sides clashed near the inter-state border on Monday resulting in the death of six Assam Police personnel in firing, the chief ministers of the two states engaged in a Twitter face-off tagging Union home minister Amit Shah, who immediately asked the two heads of the states to maintain status quo and resolve the issue.
Assam’s BJP chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma offered to travel to Aizawl to resolve the border issue with Zoramthanga, Sarma’s Mizoram counterpart who heads the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) that is a member of the NDA.
“I have just spoken to Hon’ble Chief Minister @ZoramthangaCM ji. I have reiterated that Assam will maintain status quo and peace between the borders of our state. I have expressed my willingness to visit Aizawl and discuss these issues if need be,” Sarma tweeted late in the evening with Shah in the loop.

Monday’s flare-up after the simmering tension at the border has caused a huge embarrassment for Shah who, while addressing the CMs of the northeastern states at Umiam in Meghalaya on Saturday, had specifically asked Sarma to resolve the long pending border disputes with Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
As soon as the clashes broke out in the morning, Zoramthanga posted a video clip of the situation from his Twitter handle saying, “Shri @AmitShah ji….kindly look into the matter. This needs to be stopped right now.”

Sarma tweeted back saying, “Honble Zoramthanga ji could you please investigate why are civilians from Mizoram holding sticks and trying to incite violence? We urge civilians to not take up law and order in their own hands and permit peaceful dialogue to take place between governments” and tagged Shah and the PMO.

It was the Zoramthanga’s turn to reply and he tweeted along with a video clip of two passengers in a damaged vehicle, “Innoncent couple on their way back to Mizoram via Cachar manhandled and ransacked by thugs and goons. How are you going to justify these violent acts?”

The face-off between the two CMs continued as now Sarma was asking questions. “Honble @ZoramthangaCM ji, Kolasib (Mizoram) SP is asking us to withdraw from our post until then their civilians won’t listen nor stop violence. How can we run government in such circumstances? Hope you will intervene at earliest,” he tweeted and tagged Shah and the PMo again.

Zoramthanga then reminded his Assam counterpart, “Dear Himantaji, after cordial meeting of CMs by Hon’ble Shri @amitshah ji, surprisingly 2 companies of Assam Police with civilians lathicharged & teargassed civilians at Vairengte auto rickshaw stand inside Mizoram today. They even overrun CRPF personnel /Mizoram Police.”