Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday agreed that presence of sufficient forces in time would have prevented the ethnic violence raging in the state from assuming such menacing proportions.
The violent clashes between the Bodo tribe and members of a minority community in Bodoland Territorial Council areas in Assam have so far claimed 45 lives.
"I don't want to blame anybody for the delayed arrival of forces as it takes time to move forces from other states. The system is like that. The violence wouldn't have escalated if we had reserve companies of central forces in the state. We had about 150 companies till recently, but the Centre took away some companies, leaving us with only 96 companies," Gogoi said.
He added that the situation in violence-affected areas was limping back to normal and there had been no reports of any more deaths since Thursday night.
Reacting to the comment by Union Joint Secretary, Home (North East Affairs), Sambhu Singh -- that the situation would have been contained if the Army had been deployed earlier -- Gogoi said, "I also agree to that. In fact, I had personally called up the Army chief and the defence minister on the day the violence broke out, requesting for deployment of the Army. But it took time."
Gogoi rejected reports claiming intelligence failure had led to the spread of the violence,
"There is no question of intelligence failure. It (violence) had happened all of a sudden and it spread very fast," he said.
Nearly 3.92 lakh people had fled their homes due to the violence and they were currently living in 270 relief camps, informed Gogoi.
He claimed that many people left their homes due to the sheer panic created by the "rumour mills run by a third force".
Gogoi assured that the government will take proper steps to rehabilitate those affected by the violence and will ensure that none of the families are deprived of their right over land.
"Many officers from here have been deputed for relief operations and there will be no shortage of relief material. As for rehabilitation, we are paying Rs 6 lakh as compensation to family members of those killed in the clashes, Rs 50,000 is being paid to the seriously injured victims and Rs 10,000 to those with minor injuries. Those who have lost their homes would be given three bundles of tin sheets and Rs 20,000 per household," Gogoi said.
"It is not a communal clash as alleged by the BJP. It is a clash between Bodos and the religious minority community, triggered by some elements with vested interests. Both the communities have been affected by the clashes," Gogoi said.
Gogoi also flayed the Bharatiya Janata Party for trying to give a "communal colour" to the unabated violence that has engulfed four districts in Assam -- Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Dhubri -- affecting over 3.92 lakh people from both communities and claiming at least 45 till date.
"There was no involvement of Bangladeshi infiltrators in the violence as alleged by the BJP. The affected minority people were not illegal migrants but Indian citizens. Such baseless charges made by the BJP will not help resolve the conflict," Gogoi said.
According to the chief minister, confusion over the granting of land rights to non-Bodos (non-tribals) in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas was one of the reasons behind the prevailing tension between Bodos and minority community.
"I want to clarify that those non-tribals, who used their own land before signing of the Bodo peace Accord in 2003 between Bodo Liberation Tiger, the central government and the Assam government, will continue to have the right over their land," Gogoi said.
He said such conflicts would stop happening if overall economic development for all the communities took place.
"There are conflicts of economic interests among various communities. Overall development of all the communities is the panacea for conflict resolution. All the communities have different grievances in Assam. It is an uphill task to resolve conflicts," Gogoi said.
