Congress General Secretary Harish Rawat Monday said the recent killing of five persons in
Assam's Tinsukia district made it clear that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal failed to maintain law and order in the state.
He charged the BJP-led state government with failing to act on the warning signalled by the Congress, including former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, for long that its "divisive policy" would lead to further deterioration of law and order.
"The killing makes it clear that the state government has been negligent of maintaining law and order and this has been further compounded by the fact that the killers are yet to be traced and apprehended," the party's in-charge for Assam told reporters.
Further, the chief minister has not assured the people that this will not happen again, Rawat alleged.
Five people, including three members of a family, were gunned down by suspected ULFA (Independent) cadres in Tinsukia district last Friday.
''Just giving Rs 5 lakh to the victim's family is not enough and much more is expected from the chief minister of a state," Rawat, former chief minister of Uttarakhand, said.
Congress condemns the incident and on behalf of our party president Rahul Gandhi, I extend my deepest condolences to members of the bereaved families, he said.
The Congress leader also hailed the Supreme Court's decision to include five more documents in the list of 15 documents on the basis of which the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process can be carried out.
''The state government through the NRC state coordinator had again resorted to divisive politics of attempting to get five documents rejected for the NRC verification process but we are thankful that the Supreme Court has rejected it," Rawat said.
The Congress will never do politics on the NRC and ''we hope genuine Indian citizens will be given justice as we view it as a logical conclusion of the Assam Accord which the people of the state want," the AICC secretary said.
Referring to the issue of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the Congress leader said the BJP rakes up the issue only before an election.
"The matter pertaining to the dispute is before the Supreme Court and will come up for hearing in January and it is time Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes it clear whether BJP has faith in the judiciary or not," Rawat said.
Meanwhile, former Duliajan MLA and minister Amiya Gogoi and actor Nayan Nirban Baruah joined the Congress.
Rawat said he toured several places in Barak Valley, Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong in the last few days, and several people from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) have joined the Congress.
''Our doors are always open for people who believe in peace, prosperity and development of Assam and those who are determined to defeat the divisive forces of BJP," he added.
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