Tarun Gogoi blames Mahanta for ‘secret killings’

Bogged down by anti-Congress polarisation, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Friday allegedly raked up the issue of “secret killing” of family members of Ulfa rebels during the Asom Gana Parishad regime while defining its alliance with the BJP as “opportunistic”.

Mr Gogoi came to power in 2001 by raising the issue of secret killings and assuring the people of Assam that culprits, including politicians, responsible for it would be booked. However, in the past three terms Mr Gogoi has failed to fulfil his commitments on secret killings, an emotive issue in the 2001 Assembly polls. The killing of relatives, friends and sympathisers of Ulfa rebels by unidentified assailants between 1998 and 2001 in Assam are referred to as “secret killings”.

In an obvious attempt to target the BJP-AGP alliance, Mr Gogoi told reporters, “Secret killings during Mr Mahanta’s rule was a blot on Assam’s history and both the AGP in the state and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre during that period were equally responsible for killing innocent people.”

Facing all-round attacks of the Opposition, Mr Gogoi said, “(Mr) Mahanta was responsible for the secret killings and it could not have been possible without the support of the central government where the NDA was in power then.”

Accusing that the second term of Mr Mahanta as chief minister was the worst phase of Assam’s history, Mr Gogoi said, “It was the period when the state bled both in terms of law and order and finances.”

On being asked about his promises to book the culprits, Mr Gogoi however said his government failed to identify the culprits but stopped such killings. Mr Gogoi also accused the AGP and the BJP of being power-hungry and entering into an “opportunistic alliance to serve their selfish aspirations”.