NDA govt pressured me to go ahead with "secret killings":

Press Trust of India  |  Guwahati 

Former Minister Tarun claimed Wednesday he was under pressure from the previous NDA government at the Centre to continue with the "secret killings", a practice "rampant" during his predecessor Kumar Mahanta's tenure.

Gogoi, who helmed the state for 15 years from 2001 to 2016, claimed Lal Krishna Advani, who was then the union home minister, wanted to send former police K P S Gill, largely credited with crushing militancy in the northern state, to as to quell insurgency.

"We were pressured to continue the secret killings, but we did not do it. When I took over (in 2001), the BJP wanted the secret killings to continue and Advani wanted to send KPS as the for this reason," said.

He claimed it was because of the stiff resistance by his government that Gill, an of and cadre, was not sent to the northeastern state.

was referring to extrajudicial killings of the late 1990s when masked men, allegedly sponsored by the government, would kill suspected militants and their kin.

"The secret killings in Assam happened when Mahanta was in power. The BJP was in power at the Centre then. Now, Mahanta says that he did it on instructions of the Centre," Gogoi said.

When reached for comments, the BJP's Assam unit general secretary trashed the accusation.

"It is a baseless allegation. We have always believed in integrity of but not at the cost of secret killings of innocent people. Why did he not order an enquiry on secret killings if he was honest? He is doing cheap, divisive politics," Saikia said.

The BJP said his party favoured dialogue for lasting peace in the North-East for which its governments held talks with the ULFA, NDFB, and other insurgent groups.

He claimed it was the that derailed talks with the

of the AGP claimed it was his Congress predecessor who started the practice of secret killings.

"It is that started secret killings. It was ...The first victim was Tezpur's Bhupen Bora, who was kidnapped and killed by government," he alleged.

Saikia was the minister of Assam between 1991 and 1996.

When asked whether such killings continued even after he took over, Mahanta said, "The was responsible for all sacurity related issues and it was functioning under the central government."

Gogoi said the NDA 1 government accused him of being "soft" on as he did not allow the killing of innocent people.

He claimed Mahanta, a two-term former who led the All Assam Students Union's agitation for idenfication and deportation of illegal migrants that led to the signing of the Assam Accord, had refused to accept 1967 as the cut-off year for detection of foreigners that was suggested by the then in 1980.

"The leaders, including Mahanta, refused to accept 1967 as cut-off year in 1980, but they accepted 1971 as the cut-off year in 1985. Had they accepted the first proposal, 855 people who lost their lives during the Assam agitation would have lived," Gogoi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Wed, February 20 2019. 19:25 IST