Government Backs CM As Assam Death Toll Tops 40
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Government backs Chief Minister on riots as Assam death toll tops 40 By and
Published: 22:26 GMT, 25 July 2012 | Updated: 23:43 GMT, 25 July 2012
If Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had taken timely action on a confidential report by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) vice-president Y.L.
Karna, the recent riots could have been averted.
Karna, sent by APCC president Bhubaneswar Kalita to take stock of the situation in Kokrajhar following the murder of two Muslim student leaders in Anthihara in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD) on July 6, had said in his report that the simmering tensions between Bodos and Muslims - mostly illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - could escalate into a riot if immediate steps were not taken.
Kokrajhar: People of Dimol village leave their homes following ethnic clashes in Kokrajhar district
'But the CM slept over the report till Kokrajhar started burning two weeks later,' Karna, who had submitted the report to Gogoi, said on Wednesday.
Incidentally, Kalita is Gogoi's bête noire. The home ministry, however, refused to blame the state government for not reacting quickly to the ethnic violence.
Union home secretary R.K.
Singh said the state had been requesting for forces but it took time for the Centre to arrange the forces and for the paramilitary companies to reach the strife-torn parts of Assam.
'The Assam government cannot be blamed (for the delay)…they have been constantly in touch with us but it takes time for paramilitary forces to reach the spot,' Singh said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Flames erupt from huts built on the banks of river Gourang during violence near Kokrajhar town in the northeastern Indian state of Assam
Both the BJP and the CPM have blamed the state government for not acting in time to control the violence which went out of hand.
In Guwahati, Karna piled on the blame.
'On July 8, Gogoi held a high-level meeting with top police officials to review the law and order situation of the state, but the report wasn't discussed. Had the CM swung into action then, lives could have been saved.
But he paid no heed to our warning,' Karna, bijiqq said.
The CM refused to comment on the issue. Though 13 columns of the army have been deployed in the districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Dhubri and Bongaigaon, six more persons were killed on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 40.
While Kokrajhar district is under control since the army was deployed, violence has intensified in Chirang's Bijini with reports of around 30 houses being burnt.
Taking a tough line on the ethnic violence, Singh said the Assam government has been instructed to arrest the ring leaders from both sides.
'We will spare no one; ring leaders will be identified and booked…we have already arrested around 25 persons,' he said.
