Assam violence: ‘Advani wants to play communal politics’, says Gogoi

Guwahati - Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday accused senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani of wanting to play communal politics in the state.

Gogoi reminded Advani of the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was the Deputy Prime Minister of the country.

“It appears to me that he wants to play politics, divisive role, it is communal politics, which I don't think is a proper time. As you know, he is accusing us for delaying and containing violence in the riots,” said Gogoi.

 â€œHe forgot that when he was the Home Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Gujarat riots took place. He has forgotten how long it took. It began in mid February and continued till mid-June,” he added.

Advani had earlier on Tuesday blamed illegal immigration of people from Bangladesh into Assam for the communal violence in the state.

“As a result of illegal immigration and the Government of India and the state government's collusion, three problems have arisen. Indigenous people feel they are losing control of their own land. The second is the ethnic problem faced by Bodos who feel threatened they'd be marginalised in their own areas. The third is the demographic change in Assam,” said Advani, who visited riot-hit Assam. Advani also compared the situation of the displaced in Assam with that of the displaced Kashmiri Pundits.

“I would like the Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh), Congress President (Sonia Gandhi) and state government of Assam to honestly introspect as to where the guilt lies. How did all this happen?” he asked. Gogoi further said that he has to take all decisions keeping in mind not only the tribals, but also other Indians residing in the province.

"Definitely, we have to see the interest of Bodos or tribal people or the other people and at the same time, you have to see those who are Indian citizens also, those who have become as per the Assam accord, because they have been given citizenship,” said Gogoi.

“The moment they acquire citizenship, same law applies to everybody. So, how to reconcile, this is our case,” he added. Former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram met victims of ethnic violence in a camp for refugees in Assam's Dhubri District earlier on Tuesday, and assured them of all possible assistance. Chidambaram also visited relief camps at Barkanda and Lakhiganj and met the people being sheltered there.

  Earlier, assuring assistance to Chief Minister Gogoi, Chidambaram said that the immediate task is to rehabilitate the victims.

"The government of India has assured the chief minister full support in ensuring that displaced persons get immediate relief and are rehabilitated back in their home villages in a short period of time as possible," said Chidambaram.

 Chidambaram also said that generous amount of compensation has been announced for the rebuilding of homes of the victims.

"Prime Minister visited Assam a couple of days ago. The government of Assam had earlier announced a compensation package, the Prime Minister has announced the central government's compensation package, together the package is quite generous and will help these people rebuild their homes, wherever their homes have been destroyed and rehabilitate themselves," said Chidambaram.

He said that both the governments are putting their best possible efforts to send the victims back to their villages and to restore peace and security in the state.

According to an official estimate, so far 57 people have lost their lives and 47,936 families have been affected due to the ethnic clash, which has displaced over four lakh people.

 The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, visited the violence-hit areas of Kokrajhar district on Saturday.  Dr. Singh announced a 300 crore rupees package for rehabilitation and relief in strife-torn region. He also announced ex-gratia of 2 lakh rupees to the next of kin of those killed, and 50 thousand rupees for those seriously injured.

The Union Home Ministry has so far made available 11,600 paramilitary personnel for the state to bring back normalcy in the riot-affected areas.