BTAD violence perpetrated by anti-national elements: Gogoi

"Violence was perpetrated by some anti-national forces to sully our image. This violence even spread to places outside the state. However, due to concerted efforts the situation was prevented from drifting to a point of no return," Gogoi said addressing a public meeting at Diabari in Kokrajhar district.

"There were some political forces that politicised the issues for narrow selfish gains. Putting the lives of the people at peril through dangerous political machinations are nasty and mean politics," he said.

The chief minister appreciated the peace initiatives undertaken by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) administration, an official statement said.

He said that the assembling together of thousands of people belonging to different communities in today's meeting is an indicator that peace has returned to Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) region and this augurs well for the state as a whole.

Gogoi appreciated the peace initiatives of the BTC administration under the leadership of Hagrama Mohilary and said, "Normalcy has returned to BTAD areas earlier than was expected. No one could have imagined that these areas which were affected by violence five months back have returned to normalcy, thanks to the peace efforts of Hagrama and his members, the state government and the people of BTAD areas."