Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia today charged the State government with acting at the behest of the RSS and said that a deliberate attempt is being made by the BJP to create instability and division among communities living in the State.

Addressing a press conference here, Saikia alleged that the State government is functioning at the directions of RSS. “They had always wanted to create divisions between the Hindus and the Muslims. Now they also want to create division among the Assamese and the Bengali communities,” he said.

Saikia said the people involved in the recent Nagaon incident, where some pro-talk ULFA cadres were assaulted, were close to the RSS and the State government.

“They want to create instability in the State and promote North Indian style of Hindutva here,” said Saikia, who is also the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

He said that the killing of ABMSU leader Lafiqul Islam in Kokrajhar and the Nagaon incident prove that the law-and-order situation in Assam is worsening. “The government has failed to provide security to the citizens,” Saikia said.

The Congress leader also criticised the State government over its handling of the flood situation in Assam and said that flood-affected people have not been provided adequate relief materials.

Saikia lambasted the State government over its decision to name some colleges in Assam after RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.

“Except for one particular political party, all others in the State have opposed that decision. Even student organisations and others have opposed the naming of colleges after Upadhyaya. But the State government and the Education Minister did not bother to listen to the people. Talks and negotiations are part of democracy. The BJP wants to curb the democratic tradition by taking arbitrary decisions,” he said.

He added that when the Congress party was in power in Assam, educational institutions and other projects were named after local icons. “The government’s decision is betrayal of their own slogan of ‘jati, mati and bheti’,” Saikia said.

He added that a decision had been taken much earlier to name the model colleges in the State after the names of the places where they are to be established.

To a query regarding naming of institutions after members of the Nehru-Gandhi family during Congress rule, Saikia said, “Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cannot be compared to Deendayal Upadhyaya. They were Prime Ministers. They were democratically elected by the voters of the country.”

News Source NE Live