GUWAHATI, Nov 4 � Even as Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today asked the Director General of Police to seek deployment of Army in the RHAC areas and a team of four Ministers to rush to Gendamari where suspected Garo militants gunned down seven persons yesterday, besides taking up the matter with the Meghalaya Government, the All Rabha Students� Union (ARSU) has blamed the State Government for the incident. The ARSU also doubts the sincerity of the State Government in holding the RHAC elections.
ARSU president Tankeswar Rabha told this newspaper today that in view of the sensitive situation in the Assam-Meghalaya border areas, the student body had made a fervent appeal to the Assam Government to seal the State's border with Meghalaya and to deploy Army personnel in the State�s areas bordering Meghalaya in its RHAC part, as soon as the elections to the Autonomous Council were announced. But, the Assam Government took no step to comply with the ARSU request.
�We are apprehensive of a clandestine move of the State Government to stall the RHAC elections on the plea of a volatile situation. For, the State Government has been demonstrating indifference in holding the RHAC elections. It has been compelled by the Gauhati High Court to hold the elections to the Autonomous Council,� said the ARSU president.
He also alleged that none of the Ministers and top officials has visited the RHAC areas since the elections to the Autonomous Council were declared.
The ARSU demands immediate sealing of the Assam-Meghalaya border and deployment of Army personnel in these border areas to ensure free and fair elections to the RHAC, he said.
Moreover, he said the Congress leaders who have been making provocative statements on the RHAC elections should refrain from such acts.
The State Government should pay a compensation of Rs 15 lakh to the next of kin of each of those killed in Gendamari yesterday and ensure free treatment for all those injured in the incident.
The Government should not allow the situation to drift away and thus pave the way for postponement of the RHAC elections, he said and made an appeal to all sections of the people to maintain peace and amity.
Meanwhile, Benedict Areng, president of the Kamrup-Goalpara district committee of the Garo National Council (GNC) and a convenor of the Garo-Ajanajati Sanmilita Sangram Samiti (GASSS) condemned the Gendamari incident and made an appeal to all concerned not to link the incident with the ongoing agitation of the Garo and non-Rabha people of the RHAC areas.
