GUWAHATI, April 3 — Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today informed that the Government of India was yet to take any concrete initiative to man the unguarded Indo-Bhutan border in the State to prevent infiltration of extremists from their camps in Himalayan kingdom. Talking to newsmen here this morning, Sri Gogoi said, “Although the State Government has been insisting on deployment of the BSF along the unmanned Indo-Bhutan border, the Centre has decided to deploy SSB personnel. However, no step has been taken so far to deploy even the SSB along the international border through which ULFA and NDFB ultras infiltrate from their camps in Bhutan to carry out strikes in the State.”
The Chief Minister said that the Centre was yet to decide firmly about how to get the camps of ULFA and NDFB extremists evicted from Bhutan in coordination with that country. When asked whether the Ministry of Home Affairs and the External Affairs Ministry were engaged in shifting responsibilities in respect of getting extremists camp evicted from Bhutan, the Chief Minister only said, “We don’t know if there is any compulsion preventing the Government of India in taking steps in the right earnest in the this regard.”
Sri Gogoi today informed that State Government had lodged protest with the Home Ministry for its bid to take away more companies of paramilitary force deployed in the State while the State Government has been asking for at least 30 additional companies of Central forces to tackle the growing activities of extremists.
“Right now we have 116 companies of Central paramilitary forces deployed in the State while the actual requirement is 180 companies as per the assessment of the Union Home Ministry. Still the Centre wants more companies to be taken away from the State,” he said informing that the matter was drawn to the attention of the Union Minister of State for Home, ID Swami.
Meanwhile, fund crisis has been a hurdle in State Government’s bid to raise a few new battalions of Assam Police. The Chief Minister said the Centre was not willing to provide fund for raising new battalions although it would like to give fifty per cent fund for State police modernisation.
While declining to remark on the reported statement of the Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani ruling out talks with the proscribed ULFA, the Chief Minister reiterated that the Government of India should adopt the same policy to bring ULFA to talks as it did with the NSCN-IM. Sri Gogoi today said that State Government was in no mood to offer safe passage to ULFA men this ‘Rongali Bihu’ as the outfit has repeatedly ‘ridiculed’ the talks offers made by the Chief Minister till date.
Regarding the janajagaran yatra brought out by the State BJP, the Chief Minister said, “The yatra is aimed at dividing people on communal line with an eye on the Parliamentary polls scheduled for early next year.” He said since the issues — IMDT Act repeal, influx from Bangladesh and growing activities of ISI — raised by the State BJP in the yatra were responsibilities of the BJP-led NDA Government in the Centre, it was ridiculous on part of the State BJP to try create mass awareness in the State on those issues.
“By bringing out yatra on these issues, the State BJP has exposed the failure of its own Government in the Centre,” the Chief Minister said stating that no BJP bigwig would be allowed to incite people on communal line in the State. It may be mentioned that the BJP national president Venkaiah Naidu and senior leader, Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat are scheduled address a party rally here on April 7 on the occasion of completion of janajagaran yatra.