Digvijay slams Advani for remarks on Assam violence

Singh said that Advani's comments on illegal migration were "ill-timed" as the state was burning at that time.

Accusing Advani of abetting violence in Assam by making provocative statements at Kokrajhar when the area was in the grips of ethnic strife, Singh said "these (the comments) are like adding fuel to the fire".

He was speaking on the "Sarokar" programme at Rajya Sabhha television to be telecast tonight.

Advani, who had visited the area in last week of July had linked the situation in the state to that of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

In the one-hour long discussion, Singh also took strong exception to "BJP's love for Jinnah" when the Opposition party's national executive member Seshadri Chari quoted late Mohammed Ali Jinnah to emphasise the seriousness of the crisis in Assam maintaining that the latter had told his staff that "within 10 years Assam would come to Pakistan on a platter".

Singh said that the the Assam accord was a result of a long-standing tribal strife in the area and is not a communal issue. The issue is extremely sensitive and needs to be addressed with utmost care, a press release by the Rajya Sabha channel quoted the Congress leader as saying.

BJP leaders had come down heavily on the Congress government last week during an adjournment motion on Assam violence in the Lok Sabha.

The ethnic violence in Assam, which started on July 19-20, has claimed 77 lives so far besides rendering more than four lakh homeless in the state.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi yesterday said that 1.6 lakh people displaced in the conflict have returned to their homes from refugee camps.