 |
| Tarun Gogoi at the news conference on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Guwahati, April 10 : Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today alleged that some Opposition parties were hand-in-glove with the secessionist and proscribed Ulfa.
Leaders of the A and C companies of Ulfa’s 28 battalion had recently stated that the outfit had helped parties during successive elections, thus lending credibility to popular perceptions about a militant-politician nexus.
All major political parties, in a rare show of unanimity, had, however, denied the assertion. The leaders had not named the parties the outfit had helped.
Addressing a news conference at Rajiv Bhawan here this evening, Gogoi said his charge was based on available reports. He also did not name the parties allegedly having a nexus with Ulfa saying: “We have reports and are verifying them.”
“There are reports about Ulfa creating problems during the polls with help of some political forces. I won’t name the parties as we are trying to verify the reports. You can also assess for yourself as to who is supporting Ulfa and who is soft on Ulfa, which is a pawn in the hands of foreign powers.” Gogoi said. The happenings in Pakistan and Bangladesh were a warning to all of us to remain vigilant, he added.
Dismissing the demands of the AGP-BJP that Gogoi should resign, he said the performance of his government was better than that of the AGP-led governments. Gogoi also reminded everybody present that the Congress won the panchayat elections that followed the Beltola incident on November 24, 2007. He took a dig at the BJP’s Bijoya Chakravarty for joining hands with “secret killers” (meaning the AGP) with which the BJP has an electoral tie-up.
The other parties were swift to react. AGP spokesman Apurba Bhattacharjee said, “Coming from a responsible person such as the chief minister, the allegation only reflects the government’s inability to tackle the situation. One fails to understand why he had to go public before verifying the facts. This only reflects his irresponsible nature. We have always condemned violence. How does it help if we take the name of Ulfa? Will these incidents not happen then? Will innocent people stop dying?”
The BJP went a step further with its spokesman Charan Deka accusing the Congress of having a nexus not only with some militant groups of some northeastern states but also of Pakistan.
“The Congress is encouraging extremist groups of Pakistan and also anti-Assam activities of Muslim fundamentalists. Gogoi is levelling this allegation only to cover up the guilt of his own party. Therefore, Gogoi should stop levelling such baseless allegations,” Deka said.
As proof of better governance, Gogoi cited figures about the number of incidents, security personnel and civilians killed in the five years of the AGP regime between 1996 and 2001 and the Congress-led government from 2001 to 2009. “Things have improved under us. From an annual average of 528 incidents, death of 80 security personnel and 307 civilians during the AGP-led government, the average during our tenure has come down to 425 incidents, death of 28 security personnel and 199 civilians.”
