Calling Ahom ruler 'foreigner' is an insult: Ulfa

Militant group Ulfa Wednesday said it will launch an agitation against the union government for allegedly insulting Assam by calling the 13th century Ahom ruler Sukapha as a "foreigner".

The Ulfa statement comes barely days after the union government refused to include a Assam cultural tableau in the Jan 26 Republic Day parade that proposed to highlight the arrival of Sukapha, considered the father of modern Assam, into the state.

"This is another example of the government's attitude towards Assam. To call Sukapha a foreigner is the ultimate insult to Assam," the statement said.

"We will launch a series of programmes against this insult after the Magh Bihu (the festival starts mid-January)," it said.

Assam's cultural affairs department, in its proposal for inclusion of the tableau in the parade, had erroneously mentioned Sukapha as a conqueror and not as Ahom ruler. The proposal was rejected during a screening and the Ahom ruler was termed a "foreigner". - IANS