NEW DELHI, 8 May — Security has been beefed up in Assam to control the pre-poll violence allegedly unleashed by the banned organization —United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
So far 35 people have lost their lives. In an encounter with the army, four ULFA militants were killed on Saturday. Violence in the state has taken an ugly turn with the ruling party Asom Gon Parishad (AGP) and its key ally in the assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the Congress party for its linkage with the ULFA.
At a public rally on Saturday, in Guwahati, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee scathingly attacked the Congress for aligning with ULFA. He asserted that there are “indications toward both being hand-in-glove.
“The militant attacks have been painted as a “political conspiracy” by Chief Minister of the state P.K. Mahanta (AGP).
Earlier, during his campaign tour of Assam, Home Minister L.K. Advani accused the Congress for its links with the militant outfit. Advani said, “their aim is to terrorize the people, but I am sure they would be given a fitting reply. “On Sunday, the Congress challenged the prime minister and home minister to order a probe into the alleged nexus between it and ultras within 24 hours or else apologize to the people for charging the party with having links with ULFA.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, the Congress General Secretary Kamal Nath said, “The prime minister and home minister should order a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe or a judge nominated by the chief justice be asked to probe into the matter or else apologize.
“When the prime minister was questioned about a formal probe into the alleged Congress-ULFA nexus he replied, “No need for formal probe, internal inquiry is going on.”
Earlier, this allegation rested on the point that only AGP and BJP members were being targeted by the ULFA, while those belonging to the Congress were spared.
However, this charge lost its credibility when the suspected ULFA militants gunned down five Congress workers and hacked one in three separate incidents on Friday night. Over the past week, charges levied against the Congress for its linkage with ULFA have not had much of a political impact.
Ever since the AGP assumed power in 1996, hundreds of people have died in insurgency-related violence. Analysts point out that this has alienated voters from AGP. Fear of losing polls prompted the AGP to enter into an alliance with BJP. The AGP’s alliance with BJP appears to have earned it more foes than friends. The state BJP has split and some AGP leaders have moved over to the Congress.
Meanwhile, at least six people were killed overnight in election-related violence in the state, while police averted a disaster yesterday by defusing a powerful bomb at the main railway station. A police spokesman said that the bomb planted at the state capital Guwahati’s station was suspected of being part of a pre-election terror campaign by separatist militants.
