A major political blame game broke out on Saturday even as the death toll in Assam violence rose to 28 — all belonging to minority community — following the recovery of eight more bodies.
The BJP questioned what Manmohan Singh did as the Prime Minister in the last 10 years and as Rajya Sabha MP from the State for 24 years for fixing Assam’s security. It hit out at the Congress for “failing to protect the minorities in the State”, whose Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi refused to step down amid demands for his resignation and announced his decision to hand over the probe into the violence to the NIA.
The Congress joined by its ally, National Conference, returned BJP’s fire. They blamed BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for inciting violence through his rally by dubbing all Muslims there as Bangladeshis and its other leaders for fanning hatred through morphed pictures on their Twitter accounts.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth held a review meeting with Central and State authorities in New Delhi under PM’s directions. After the meeting, the PMO said 20 companies (approximately 2000 personnel) of Central forces rushed to the State and additional companies, including Cobra companies, will be sent as required.
The blame game erupted as the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD) continued to be on the boil for the third consecutive day. “Eight bodies have been recovered on Saturday, which took the death toll to 28. Police have also arrested 30 people in connection with the attacks,” Assam IGP (law and order) SN Singh told The Pioneer.
The bodies recovered from the Khagrabari area in Baksa district were mostly of women and children, police sources said. The police blamed the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) for the mayhem. Interestingly, the outfit — which has refused to sit for the talks with the Centre even though the other groups of the NDFB have already laid down their arms — claimed on Saturday that a ‘third force’ was involved in the current rounds of violence.
Police said no fresh violence was reported except for one incident in Baksa district, where some of the victims burnt two forest camps while demonstrating against the series of violence. Although the forest guards had to fire in the air to disperse the mob, no one was injured.
Authorities have intensified the security in three of four BTAD districts including Kokrajhar, Baksa and Chirang as a precautionary measure. An indefinite curfew, clamped in these districts on Friday, was relaxed for some hours on Saturday even as the Army staged flag marches for the second day.
The current spate of violence is alleged to be fallout of a clash between the Bodos’ aspiration for a separate Bodoland state and the resultant discontent among the non-Bodos living in BTAD over the issue. The non-Bodos (Bengali speaking Muslims) have alleged the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), which is an ally of the Assam’s ruling Congress in Dispur and also in power in the BTC, has targeted them this time as they have not supported the BPF candidate in the recently concluded lok Sabha polls.
As for the political slugfest, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “It is my charge that in Assam what is happening is because of the vote-bank politics of Congress. The BJP would like to know from Manmohan Singh, who is representing the State of Assam for the last 24 years in the Rajya Sabha, as to what he has done to restore the sanctity, good governance and effective law and order in Assam. What is the Congress Government doing thereIJ What is the able Rajya Sabha member doingIJ”
He also attacked Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde saying he has not said anything yet on the Assam violence but was talking much about ‘snoopgate’. His party colleague Shahnawaz Hussain said, “In Assam, people have been killed. The life of minorities is not safe under Congress rule in Assam.”
Senior Congress leader and Union law Minister Kapil Sibal retaliated saying, “Modi is a model of dividing India.” Releasing a number of photos allegedly taken from Twitter accounts of some senior BJP leaders as well as well from some district level leaders, Sibal said photographs of events in Pakistan, Palestine and Bangladesh were being shown on these twitter handles as occurring in India to communalise the atmosphere.
He said one of the accounts is in the name of Nitin Gadkari. Though it does not belong to him, the former BJP president has not sought action against the fake account holder. “Asma Khan Pathan, a district minority president of BJP, has sensitive photos of Pakistan claiming that it is happening in India,” he said.
Joining issue, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah charged Modi with inciting violence through his recent rally in Assam. “In Assam, 30 Muslims were murdered. WhyIJ Because BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi made a speech there and tried to incite people against Muslims. This is a fact. This truth cannot be denied,” Omar told an election rally at Tangmarg in Baramulla lok Sabha constituency. He said that Modi, in his election rally in Assam three days earlier, had branded all Muslims living in that State as “Bangladeshis”, which resulted in the attacks on them.
For his part, Gogoi owned responsibility for the grim situation but refused to resign saying he was not coward to run away from battlefield. There have been demands for his resignation from all Opposition parties and a section of civil society in the State.
“I want to coordinate with neighbouring Bhutan as the militants may hide there after committing the crime. If the NIA comes then that can be done,” he said. BTAD shares its borders with Bhutan. The geography makes it difficult for the forces to pin down the militants who have their bases there.
The four districts of Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang form BTAD, an autonomous set up, run by the elected Bodoland Terrotorial Council (BTC). The districts, predominantly inhabited by Bodos, have witnessed worst ever violence between the Bodos and Bengali speaking Muslim settlers in 2012 killing over 100 and displacing over four lakh people.