Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been airing the view that rumours have been responsible for the exodus of hundreds of workers and students of Assam from the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka due to their having received threats of retaliation for the recent riots in the BTAD area of Assam from certain groups in these States. While there is no denying that rumour-mongering also plays a major role in such situations, it should be clear to anyone that the principal mischief-monger in the violence in Mumbai and the retaliatory threats in the three aforesaid States has been the AIUDF. There are fairly clear indications that will be confirmed by intelligence sources that the AIDUF not only had leaflets printed and distributed in Mumbai, but that it also sent out SMS messages to groups that could whip up violence. The obvious course of action for any sensible and efficient administration would have been to arrest AIDUF chief Badruddin Ajmal for seditious activities, have him detained and ensure a speedy trial in order to rule out the possibility of such things happening again. However, when any administration delays such obvious and vital initiatives, it itself creates conditions that make such initiatives risky propositions later on in terms of the fallout of such action. That is why weak administrations will ever have occasion to repent at leisure the imperative actions that were not taken in time out of fear. In the present case, it was because fear was the key in avoiding the right action at the proper time that the administration has been obliged to look for other excuses for the exodus that are far from the real reason.