Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday termed the failure to resolve long-pending inter-state boundary disputes in the Northeast a “complete failure” of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and called for the regional political forum to be disbanded, India Today NE reported.
Addressing reporters in Guwahati, Gogoi said the settlement of inter-state boundary disputes should have been among the highest priorities of both the Centre and the BJP-led state governments in the region.
“This is one of the most important issues that the Centre and the state government should have resolved. The entire Northeast has a forum called the North East Democratic Alliance, whose chairman was the Chief Minister of Assam.
If, till today, the boundaries of Northeast India have not been resolved despite the BJP being in power at the Centre since 2014, then I think it is a complete failure of the NEDA,” he was quoted by the news outlet.
Stating that the alliance had failed to deliver on one of the region’s most pressing issues, Gogoi said, “NEDA should be disbanded.”
The Congress leader also urged that the pending inter-state boundary cases before the Supreme Court be expedited so that decades-old disputes could be resolved without further delay.
“I hope the cases that are in the Supreme Court are speeded up so that these inter-state disputes can be resolved at the earliest,” he said.
Gogoi’s remarks come as several northeastern states continue efforts to resolve long-standing boundary disputes through bilateral negotiations and legal proceedings. While Assam has signed agreements with some neighbouring states to settle portions of their disputed boundaries, disputes with states including Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh remain unresolved, with some matters pending before the Supreme Court.
