Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday asked the banned United Liberation Front of Assom to come forward to find a solution to the insurgency problem plaguing the state. Gogoi said the banned outfit had lost the opportunity to initiate a political dialogue last year when the government had declared a unilateral ceasefire during August-September. "Still, we are keeping our doors open for talks with the ULFA provided it wants a political solution," he said.
Sounding the Congress' poll bugle in the state, Gandhi attacked the Modi government repeatedly alleging that it was working with an approach of 'Hum do, Hamare do' -- a term he recently used while speaking in Lok Sabha to claim that the country is being run by only four people.
Assam CM Gogoi asks ULFA to give up arms and participate in democratic processes.
Three hundred and five members of the United Liberation Front of Barak Valley led by its president Pancharam Apeto gave up arms before Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in Guwahati on Monday.
"The killing of six people in Dibrugarh and Sibsagar districts by the ULFA has demonstrated that the enemies of the country are prompting them to resort to such acts," Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi Tuesday claimed that "not a single Hindi-speaking permanent resident of Assam has left the state after the violence."
Even if the Congress is unable to defeat the political appeal of Narendra Modi, the resources and talent of the BJP and its managers, it is relying on issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act and the perceived threat to Assamese identity, along with the future threat of the National People's Register to ensure it continues to be a force in the state. Aditi Phadnis reports.
The 12-hour Assam bandh called by the All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) on Tuesday turned violent with government officials and mediapersons attacked leading to imposition of indefinite curfew in some areas.
Worsening the crisis in Assam, State Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma quit on Monday demanding the immediate ouster of Tarun Gogoi as chief minister.
The chairperson of the National Commission for Women Mamata Sharma on Wednesday recommended Assam government to provide government job for the victim of July 9 Guwahati molestation episode besides proper counseling and rehabilitation.
The editor-in-chief of the local television news channel, which had videographed the molestation of a girl outside a pub in Guwahati, on Tuesday resigned after expressing doubts over impartial enquiry into the allegations that a journalist had instigated the incident.
Tea major Hindustan Lever Ltd, facing threat to its employees from ULFA, will not withdraw its operations from Assam following an assurance by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday announced an ad-hoc financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to flood-ravaged Assam, where floods and landslides have claimed 81 lives so far.
The flood situation in Assam continues to remain grim as the death toll has risen to 77. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi are scheduled to visit the state to assess the situation. Nearly 20 lakh have been displaced in the flood, the worst in the state in more than a decade.
Gogoi is understood to have thanked the Centre for the prompt response to the recent attacks.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist has called for 12-hour Assam bandh on Friday protesting murder of its leader Gongaram Koul at the Panitola tea estate in Tinsukia district of Assam on Tuesday night by unidentified persons.
The ULFA leadership has been demanding the release from jail of five of its top leaders as one of the conditions for facilitating peace talks with the government.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has in fact gone to the extent of claiming that Pakistan's external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, was helping Maoists in the state. "The Maoists are spreading in Assam. The ISI has also joined hands with them," Gogoi told journalists after a meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram earlier this week.
Congratulating Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for the massive surrender, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram assured those who surrendered that they would be treated with honour and dignity. K Anurag reports.
An eight-member Assam-Nagaland Goodwill Team on Friday called on Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and conveyed that people of Nagaland wanted an amicable and peaceful solution to the vexed Assam-Nagaland boundary row outside the jurisdiction of the apex court.
Alarmed by the devastating fire at the AMRI Hospital in neighbouring Kolkata, which claimed 93 lives, the Assam government has decided to conduct a fresh fire-safety audit in all hospitals, educational institutions, hotels and residential apartment buildings across the state.
The mortal remains of Assamese litterateur Indira Raisom Goswami were consigned to flames in Guwahati on Wednesday with full state honours.
It was Haldar who had played a key role in making a peace process possible with a faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam. He is also negotiating with other tribal outfits in the region on behalf of the government of India.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not a threat to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance but a threat to the Bharatiya Janata Party led-National Democratic Alliance itself, as proved by the developments following his elevation as the BJP poll panel chief, his Assam counterpart Tarun Gogoi said on Saturday. "Modi is not a threat to the UPA. Modi is a threat to NDA itself," he said.
The Bodoland People's Front (BPF) on Thursday said that its legislator, Pradeep Brahma, had been arrested on baseless charges by the police and reiterated that he must be released immediately without any condition.
The anti-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom on Friday blamed "infighting" within the ruling Congress party in Assam for the violence between Bodos and minorities. The outfit claimed that people in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts are being made "political scapegoat" for the sake of individual ambitions of leaders.
Rediff.com takes a look at life inside a relief camp in Kokrajhar, which was the epicenter of the recent ethnic violence, which claimed 77 lives.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will travel to Guwahati to file his nomination papers for his fifth term in the Rajya Sabha on May 15. The election has been scheduled for May 30.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government of not taking timely steps to contain the conflict in violence-hit districts of lower Assam.
At least 26 trains were cancelled and 31 stopped at different stations due to violence in Assam, prompting Railway Minister Mukul Roy to seek enhanced security from Home Minister P Chidambaram for safety of over 30,000 passengers stranded midway.
The Assam unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has lodged a First Information Report with Assam police against Enamul Haque Laskar a Congress legislator, and former minister Nurjamal Sarkar for their alleged involvement in financial irregularity involving Rs 270 crore in the state Irrigation Department.
Normal life disrupted in Assam during a statewide bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Hours after Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi claimed that the key accused in the Guwahati molestation case was in Bhubaneswar, the Odisha police on Monday said its Assam counterpart is yet to contact it on the matter.
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Wednesday with a railway track washed away in Lakhimpur district disrupting railway traffic with Arunachal Pradesh.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that though the counter-insurgency Unified Command comprising the state police, paramilitary force and the army was at work in the state to fight insurgents, special training would be given to the police force to fight Maoists.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has directed the deputy commissioner of Baksa district to institute a magisterial inquiry into the kidnapping and death of a youth in the wake of allegations from various quarters that he had been killed by army personnel. The army has denied any involvement in the incident.
The highest percentage was reported from constituencies in Karimganj, Jorhat and Haflong districts ranging from between 35 to 40 per cent.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances