Tinsukia killings: BJP makes oblique attack on Congress

The ruling BJP in Assam Friday indirectly blamed the Congress for the killing of five people in Tinsukia district, saying the incident was a result of the opposition party continuously making provocative statements on sensitive issues such as the NRC and the Citizenship Bill.

Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass also criticised a section of media for broadcasting provocative statements uninterruptedly, thereby vitiating the atmosphere.

Dass asked the Assam government to set up a judicial probe into incident on Thursday night, when five people, including three of a family, from a linguistic minority community were killed by gunmen.

Police suspect the gunmen belonged to the ULFA (Independent) faction as they were dressed in battle fatigue, but the outfit has denied its involvement in the attack.

Asked about his own party MLA Shiladitya Dev making provocative statements on communally and linguistically sensitive matters, Dass said he has been asked twice to refrain from making such statements or else the Assam BJP will write to the Parliamentary Board for action against him.

"A section of people and some groups are continuously making provocative statements on sensitive matters like NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Yesterday's incident is an outcome of that," Dass said at a press conference in Guwahati.

"We doubt that some political parties are behind this. It is done with an aim to hamper peace and derail the development work of the government, but they will not be successful," Dass said.

He said Congress leaders have been making "provocative statements" on National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Bill.

The NRC was being updated in Assam and over 40 lakh applicants were left out in its complete draft published on July 30. The NRC was meant to include the names of all Indian citizens who have been residing in Assam before March 25, 1971.

Assam has been facing influx of people of Bangladesh for many years.

The Assam government has been appealing to people to not make inflammatory statements on such sensitive matters.

Asked categorically if the BJP sees Congress's involvement in the Tinsukia incident, Dass said: "I am not saying Congress is behind this. An inquiry will disclose it. But Assam's main issue is the foreigners issue. Who created this (situation)?"