It seems that the entire molestation incident was an attempt to discredit Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and portray him in bad light — The Sentinel

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, July 17: Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday expressed unhappiness over the portrayal of incidents that take place in the Northeast in the national media.

Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Tarun Gogoi said, “I am unhappy with the national media’s portrayal of incidents that take place in the Northeast. The national media tries to project the negative side of the region and this saddens me.”

He further said, “Regarding the July 9 molestation incident, the national media is trying to project the image that the Assamese society is uncivilized. What happened on July 9 was just one incident and such incidents take place in other States also. I am not justifying the incident. What happened was really unfortunate but it does not mean that the Assamese society is uncivilized.” He added that he had issued strict orders that the incident should be probe thoroughly and the culprits should be brought to book.

The Chief Minister also announced that a police commissionerate would be set up in Guwahati very soon. “The government has already approved the proposal and decks have been cleared to set up the police commissionerate in Guwahati at the earliest,” he said.

When asked whether the entire molestation incident could have been a conspiracy against his government, Gogoi said, “I am not sure. The incident is being probed. But yes, there might have been some ulterior motive for which the video footage was uploaded on Youtube.”

News Live editor-in-chief Atanu Bhuyan resigned from his post earlier today. Bhuyan had expressed apprehension over the fact that Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi might put pressure on the News Live management to make him (Bhuyan) resign. To this Gogoi retorted, “Be it News Live or any other media house, I have never put any pressure on any journalist. So much is written and said against me, have I put pressure on anybody? Even if I had put pressure on Atanu Bhuyan, he should have stood his ground if he thinks he is right. If he succumbs to political pressure then he is not fit to be a journalist.”

When asked if anyone was trying to destabilize his government, Gogoi said, “Nobody can destabilize me. Any one who tries doing so, will be destabilized himself.”

The Chief Minister said that the July 9 was a lesson for the State Government and the people of Assam and many good things had also emerged out of the incident. “The incident kicked off a discussion in society. Social awareness is being created. At the same time, the lacunae in the police force was also exposed. Guwahati is growing into a metro and criminal activities of different nature will take place. The police must be prepared to deal with this and hence a police commissionerate is necessary,” said Gogoi.