Ulfa offers condition for holding National Games in Asom

Guwahati, Dec 2 (UNI) The proscribed ULFA has offered a fresh condition for holding the National Games in Asom in February next year.

It wanted the games should be renamed as ''Assam Sports Festival'' instead of its current title.

The outfit has asked the Asom government to show its love for the state by changing the name of the National Games to ''Assam Sports Festival'' a condition to withdraw its call for boycott of the sports event.

The group which has been criticised and various organizations including the influential All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and a section of intellectuals for calling upon the sportspersons to stay away from the event, gave a detail explanation for its opposition to holding of the event in the editorial in its latest publication ''Swadhinata'' or Freedom.

In the editorial, which was emailed to media here, the ULFA stated that it was not opposed to holding any mega sports event in the state, but it opposed to holding of ''Indian National Games'' as it reflected colonial attitude of New Delhi. It offered to cooperate in hosting the games if it was held under the name and style of ''Assam Sports Festival''.

ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa had said that they would oppose imposition of Indian National Games in Assam sans a solution to ''Asom-Indo'' political conflict. The ULFA chairman called upon the sportspersons not to participate in the forthcoming ''Indian National Games'' for ''their own safety''.

The ULFA's call for boycott of the sports event evoked sharp reaction from the sports fraternity and several other organizations which opined that successful holding of the National Games would enhance the prestige of the state.

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