Opposition says relief to riot–hit not adequate

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, January 2: A delegation of seven Opposition parties led by the AGP today visited a number of relief camps in Kokrajhar district and claimed to have received reports of idequate supply of food and baby food from the camp inmates.

Besides the leaders of the AGP, the delegation had leaders from parties like CPI, CPI(M), Samajbadi Party, CPI(ML), Rashtriyatabadi Congress Party (RCP) and the United People’s Front (UPP). The delegation comprises former minister Pabindra Deka, AGP vice–president and MLA Bhupen Roy, MLA Mukundaram Choudhury, SP state president HRA Ahmed, NCP state president Ripunjay Bora, CPI state general secretary Bhogeswar Dutta, Saprakash Talukdar and Manoranjan Talukdar of the CPI(M) and Pankaj Das and Ratneswar Ranghang of the CPI(ML).

The AGP claimed that the 37,804 inmates affected by the December 23 mayhem, including children, staying in the relief camp at Chhaygaon high and ME schools had informed the delegation of not getting adequate food and baby food.

On January 3, the seven parties will stage a sit–in demonstration in the city at Lakhidhar Bora Khetra.

In a recent meeting in the city, the AGP had ganged up with the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), NCP and the UPF and decided not to allow the BJP get off the hook of the allegation – BJP–NDFB(S) link – and had said that the serious issue should be brought under the purview of the NIA’s investigation into the recent killings in Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts.

All the seven parties had decided to put pressure on the government to bring the alleged links between politicians and militants under the purview of the NIA’s investigation.

The leaders of the party had said: “A number of BJP leaders were on record claiming themselves before the last Look Sabha elections that they had contact with some militant leaders. In the aftermath of the recent killings in the state, the role of that claimed relationship between politicians and militant leaders could not the ruled out. The inquiry in this connection should also be neutral.”

In their detailed discussion on the current situation in the BTAD, the seven parties had also demanded of the Centre to grant a special package for the violence–affected people in the BTAD. They said that though the state government claimed to have supplied relief materials like food, clothes,  medicines and other basic needs to the camp inmates, the supply of such commodities was not adequate.

On the ongoing Army operation in the state, the six parties requested the Centre to see that in the me of flushing out militants there should not be any incidents of killings or harassment to innocent people in the state. They further said that all illegal arms in the BTAD should be seized and incidents of extortions, killings, murders etc., there should be stopped.

The six opposition parties, however, had kept mum on the demand for President’s Rule in the State. They had, however, condemned the state government, especially its Home Department held by none other than Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, for its failure to act despite having received intelligence input about such an attack well ahead of time.