Gogoi rebuts ULFA; says Asom is for every Indian

Guwahati, Jan 19 (UNI) A day after the ULFA issued a fresh warning to the Hindi-speaking people to leave Asom, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the state was for every Indian and ULFA has no right to talk on behalf of the people.

Addressing a news conference, he asserted that both the Centre and the state governments were taking 'tough' steps to neutralise the militant organization and reiterated that ''sovereignty is non negotiable''.

''We are ready to discuss development, but not sovereignty.

The ULFA should not build castles in the air. For Assamese, develpment is the only issue,'' he said.

The Chief Minister assured that all Indian citizens would be protected in Asom. ''As thousands of Assamese people are living outside Asom, every Indian has the right to stay, work and earn in Asom,'' he said.

The ULFA's latest warning has created a panic amongst the Hindi speaking community in the state as they have already been terrorized by last fortnight's violence which left 66 people dead.

''I am grateful to the people of Asom and Bihar for showing resilence. They handled the situation admirably. Let me tell you that not a single Hindi speaking person living in Asom permanently has left the state in this wake of violence. They are part of greater Assamese society. Those who left, are the migrant workers,'' Mr Gogoi said.

Refusing to divulge the details of the Army operation, he said that it had been going on in full swing. ''But it was the people of Asom and, media in particular, that the situation could be returned to normal in such a short time. The bombings in Guwahati are aberration as the ULFA has been constantly trying to terrorise,'' he said.

''I would like to ask the ULFA from where they got the authority to ask the Hindi speaking people to leave Asom. The truth is that they never wanted peace and discussion. They want violence and backwardness so that their policy could continue,'' he said.

Mr Gogoi reiterated that as he respected Dr Indira Goswami, he persuaded the central government to hold peace talks with the Peoples Consultative Group. ''But when the time for direct talks came, they (ULFA) simply raised the banner of sovereignty, which was not there in the initial stage'' he said.

The Chief Minister also announced the formation of a Welfare Board in the line of Army Welfare to take care of the victims of insurgency. ''We give the victims ex-gratia but we can not keep track of them after a year and they too find it difficult to approach the government as there are no direct agencies. The welfare board will specifically handle the terrorist victims' rehabilitation. There will be a permanent office and they will handle all such cases since the past 10 years,'' he said.

He also made it clear that there would be no differentiation for Assamese and Hindi speaking victims. ''Let's not differentiate them on communal lines. Every victim will get the same amount of compensation.'' The Chief Minister in fact, rebuked the police for undertaking a lathi-charge on those who had assembled to protes against ULFA killings at Guwahati. Last night, the government, in fact, transferred city SSP Nitul Gogoi along with other officers to tone up the police machinery.

UNI