BARPETA, July 28 � Congress leader and MLA of Jania constituency Abdul Khalek has dismissed the accusation levelled by some political parties that the party leadership was busy making merry on the day of the Barpeta firing and appealed for peace and harmony among all sections of the people in the aftermath of the July 21 incident.
Addressing a press conference in the Barpeta Press Club on Monday, Khalek said that the incidents that took place that day were very much unfortunate and the situation should not be allowed to aggravate further.
Khalek appealed to all sections of the people not to spread or believe rumours in the interest of the unity and fraternity. He mentioned that at a time when a section of unsocial elements are trying their best to deteriorate the law and order situation in the State on the plea of the incidents, another group was trying hard to keep the age old harmony intact. But the good elements have not come to the forefront in comparison to the evils and as a result the good messages have also not reached the common men.
He accused that a political party in the State is trying to extract political mileage from such untoward incidents. Without naming the party even after repeated questions of the reporters, Khalek said that a particular political party says one thing in Guwahati and spread different messages in the interior areas of the State. They don�t want the update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at all .
Asked about his view on the involvement of the third party as alleged by some political party including the Congress, he commented that the people involved in the communal riots in Kokrajhar in 1994 are also responsible for the unrest in Barpeta also. However, he declined to name the persons on the ground that there will be a wide investigation. �Every thing will be revealed in the judicial enquiry conducted�.
He disclosed that every one wants the NRC works to continue and it will be very smooth after the anomalies in the forms are removed. When the reporters indicated that news in a number of leading dailies and weeklies of the State had indicated the anomalies much before the happenings, the leader simply avoided it by saying that the leadership either did not notice the news or did not feel the intensity of the fault.
Referring to the incidents of police firing, Khalek said that he along with some other leaders of the party were present in the Rajiv Bhawan in connection with the district Congress Committee election that day and came to know about the incidents immediately. He told that he had talked to the DC immediately over phone who replied that it became inevitable on the part of police. A group of Congress leadership consisting of MP Ismail Hussain and DCC president Abdul Hamid visited the DC office immediately after the incidents and assessed the situation. He ruled out the allegation they were busy in dinner party that day and termed the accusation levelled by a political party only as a rumour to malign his image.
