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Opposition guns for Gogoi : AGP, allies call for probe |
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The Opposition in Assam has mounted a multi-pronged attack on Dispur and Delhi following the death of P.C. Ram.
Taking the issue beyond Assam’s boundaries, the Asom Gana Parishad and its allies in the country, the All India Anna DMK and the Telugu Desam Party, have also demanded a “high-level inquiry” into Ram’s death.
Besides, former Chief Minister and AGP (Pragatisheel) presi¬dent Prafulla Kumar Mahanta met Home Minister Shivraj Patil in New Delhi on July 14 and submitted a memorandum to him. “The state government has completely failed to deal with the situation in Assam and we call for central intervention through Article 355,” the party stated in the memorandum.
Mahanta said Assam was facing a constitutional crisis and Ram’s death had raised questions about the functioning of the Tarun Gogoi government. He alleged that Ram would have been alive had Dispur and Delhi put in a sincere effort to save him. He even claimed that Ram had stated while in captivity that he was not being rescued because he was a Dalit.
Dissatisfied with Patil’s reaction that “Ram’s death is unfortunate”, Mahanta said: “The Centre is playing the role of Dhritarashtra (Duryodhan’s blind father in the Mahabharat).
To top it all, there has been no word from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, after Ram’s “second death”. Singh had issued a condolence message after the offi¬cial’s death was flashed the first time.
For Gogoi, what is particularly disconcerting is his triple responsibility as the Chief Minister, Home Minister and head of the unified command - the three-tier structure comprising the Army, the paramilitary forces and the police. It was the state police that had conducted the operation to save Ram.
Now that the operation has failed, the entire episode has assumed strong political overtones.
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