Lobby group welcomes visit to Assam by Indian PM Modi

Dibrugarh: A lobby group in Assam, which has been demanding that the new rail-cum-road bridge in Bogibeel be named after the Ahom Kingdom’s founder, on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to inaugurate the bridge on Tuesday.

Modi will inaugurate the 4.94-kilometre rail-cum-road bridge, the longest such in India, at Bogibeel on Tuesday.

The All Assam Ahom Sabha (AAAS) has been demanding that the new bridge over the Brahmaputra be named after the founder of the erstwhile Ahom Kingdom Chaolung Siu-ka-pha.

“The Ahom Sabha acknowledges with deep appreciation the diligence with which the Prime Minister expedited the completion of the bridge,” the Dibrugarh district unit of the AAAS said in a statement.

“The Ahom Sabha feels that the inauguration of the bridge would mark an epoch in the history of the region and would contribute to the realisation of the national ideals of a composite humane society of Assam as well as India,” it stated.

“In fact, these are also the ideals of the Ahom Sabha, an organisation that has above all tenaciously striven for building bridges across peoples and cultures.”

In a memorandum to Modi earlier in December, it called for the bridge to be named after Siu-ka-pha, who it described as “the founder of Bor Axom (composite Assam) or Seven Sisters and the Axomiya society”.

In its latest statement, the AAAS said that the inauguration of the bridge on December 25 would not only facilitate easy and convenient transport and commutation between the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra “contributing thereby to the progress and development of a resurgent India”, but would also help in the successful hosting of the 61st session of the AAAS here from January 4 to 6, 2019.

While thanking the Assam government and the Dibrugarh district administration for their cooperation, it reiterated its demand for the bridge to be named after Siu-ka-pha.

“The Ahom Sabha is optimistic that the honourable Prime Minister would honour the aspirations of the Ahom community as well as the people of Assam by naming the bridge at Bogibeel as Chaolung Siu-ka-pha Samanyay Setu (Chaolung Siu-ka-pha Harmony Bridge) in honour of Chaolung Siu-ka-pha who was the founder of Bor Axom (composite Assam) and the Axomiya identity,” the statement said.