GUWAHATI: In a first for any Assam Chief Minister making a peace overture to a militant outfit, Himanta Biswa Sarma declared on Wednesday that the elephant in the room — Ulfa’s (I) “core demand of sovereignty” — would have to be addressed along the way.
Not once since the then undivided Ulfa’s inception in 1979 had a CM come close to accepting that the topic of sovereignty could be on the agenda for a dialogue. In 2005, then PM Manmohan Singh broke convention to announce that the Centre was ready to discuss “core issues” raised by Ulfa.
Sarma immediately after taking over as CM, said one needed a “fresh approach” to crack the hurdle. “An equilibrium has to be created between the perimeters of the Constitution and the outfit’s demand for sovereignty. I think their core issue will have to be discussed at some point in time.”