Non-Dimasa Bodies Flay Change of NC Hills' Name

Karimganj, Apr 26 : Terming the Tarun Gogoi Government as a “terrorist government”, the newly formed non-Dimasa organizations – Indigenous People’s Forum (IPF) and Indigenous Students’ Forum (ISF) warned that the decision to rename the NC Hills as Dima Hasao district would lead to more bloodbath in the district among the Dimasa and non-Dimasa tribes.

N Puruolte, general secretary of IPF and Athang Thangal, general secretary of ISF, said unless bifurcation of the NC hills into two separate autonomous districts, one for the Dimasas in the Maibong Subdivision and the other for the non-Dimasa ethnic tribes in the Haflong subdivision was done, the district was destined to witness more ethnic clashes as in the previous years.

They said in spite of strong opposition from diverse ethnic tribes, the State Government with a political agenda took a hasty decision to rename the district as ‘Dima Hasao’ to keep the tension among various tribes alive.

Both the organizations claimed that even a section of the Dimasas was opposed to the new nomenclature. They alleged that the Gogoi Government took the decision in such haste only to divert the attention of the people from the Rs 1,000-crore scam in the district where top-ranking ministers were involved.

The IPF said Gogoi only listened to the language of guns the language of democratic and peaceful agitation had no meaning for him.