The killing of one-horned rhinos by poachers near Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam, besides sparking unrelenting mass protests in the state, also exposed differences within the ruling Congress with one of its senior ministers dashing a letter to another senior minister asking the latter to take steps to evict illegal Bangladeshi migrants, if any, from the Kaziranga Park area.
With the spurt in rhino killings hogging headlines, one of the local satellite TV channels, which is owned by the wife of Assam’s Health, Education and Assam Accord Implementation Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, broadcast in detail how suspected illegal migrants from Bangladesh settlements in and around Kaziranga Park were posing a threat to animals inside the Park.
The broadcast, however, offended the Forest and Environment Minister Rakibul Hussain who dashed off a letter to Dr Sarma asking him to take immediate steps in the capacity of Assam Accord Implementation Minister to evict illegal Bangladeshi migrant settlers, if any, from Park. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Congress high command and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Though the matter has exposed differences within the ruling Congress, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, instead of dismissing it as a routine official communication between two ministerial colleagues, stated that “it was up to the person (Dr Sarma) who has received the letter from Rakibul Hussain to reply” thereby adding fuel to speculations about growing differences among a section of senior leaders in the ruling Congress.
Assam Accord implementation minister Dr Sarma has so far refrained from making any comment on the issue. Dr Sarma had offered to quit from the ministry over a month back due to differences with the Chief Minister in the wake of the communal riots recently.
