Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday asked union Sports Minister and Assam BJP chief Sarbananda Sonowal to come clear on his statement alleging deterioration of the law and order situation in the state.Gogoi said union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during the conference of police chiefs in Guwahati last year, had admitted that large areas of Assam were free from insurgent activities and appreciated the state government for improvement in the law and order situation.
"There is no similarity between the statement of Rajnath Singh during the DGPs' and IGPs' conference last year and the statements of Sonowal."While the home minister had appreciated the steps taken by the Assam government for improvement in the law and order situation, Sonowal has on different times alleged that the law and order situation is deteriorating," Gogoi said.
"The number of killings of innocent civilians in Assam has come down from 412 in 2001 to only 10 in 2015. This statistic itself proves the improvement of the law and order situation," he said.Gogoi also slammed union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who termed the state government's action against agitating state BJP leaders and workers as "display of intolerance".He said that Naidu being the parliamentary affairs minister must know that it was undemocratic to storm a house when session is on.Gogoi said Naidu must make it clear whether a government can be a mute spectator when attempts were made to disturb law and order.
Naidu's support to the violent protesters has only brought to the fore that he himself has taken a stand of intolerance towards democratic practice, Gogoi said."The BJP members did not obtain permission from the civil administration to organise the protest rally yesterday (Wednesday) and that led to the application of force by the security forces to disperse the crowd."I want to ask Sonowal, will the central government allow protesters to gherao parliament when session is on?" he asked.Assam's capital Dispur saw clashes between security forces and BJP members after thousands of party activists marched to the legislative assembly to protest against the misrule and corruption of the state government and tried to forcefully enter the assembly premises.