Guwahati, May 5
The saga of violence continued in Assam with militants gunning down six Congress workers in a fresh spell of pre-poll violence today even as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called upon people to put an all-out effort to defeat attempts to disrupt the democratic process in the trouble-torn state through the help of bullets.
In the latest round of violence in the state going to the polls on May 10, unidentified assailants gunned down two Congress workers and injured two others at Sadhuabagan tea estate in Sonitpur district.
In a separate incident, three Congress workers were killed when suspected militants ambushed their cars in Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, while another party worker was shot and then hacked to death at Chaygaon in Kamrup district, the police said.
The police said the identity of the assailants could not be immediately ascertained.
A suspected militant of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) was killed during an encounter with the police at Sarthebari in Barperta district of lower Assam.
The attacks are the latest in a series of poll-related violence by ULFA in the run-up to the May 10 elections in Assam.
More than 50 persons have been killed in the past month in election-related violence, including an election candidate of the BJP party. While BJP candidate, Jayanta Dutta was shot dead in Dibrugarh, an AGP candidate for the Barpeta seat, Kumar Dipak Das, was seriously injured
and he may end up losing both his legs following an attack on him two days earlier.
Nearly 35,000 Army and paramilitary personnel have been deployed throughout the state to combat the ULFA militants and provide security to ensure a trouble free poll on May 10.
Later in the day, addressing a public rally in the state capital of Guwahati the Prime Minister launched an attack on the reported nexus between the Congress and the banned ULFA and blamed the party for aiding terrorism in the state.
Stopping short of categorically stating that the Congress had entered into some kind of an agreement with the militants, Mr Vajpayee wondered why the party had not come with a strong condemnation against the killings of the workers and candidates of the AGP and BJP.
“The string of attacks targetted at BJP and AGP workers and candidates is only an ugly manifestation of the desperation that has crept into the minds of those who have adopted these methods”, he said, adding “I sometimes doubt whether the Congress believes in democracy.”
“Why are they (Congress) keeping their mouth shut? Why are they silent?” he asked.
“The Congress is hungry for power,” he said adding: “Just like a fish which cannot remain outside water for long, the Congress too cannot survive without power for which they would try any means”.
But let me assure you, the power of the ballot is mightier than the power of the bullet, the Prime Minister observed in the public rally.
Speaking to newspersons, Mr Vajpayee reiterated the same point and said there were strong indications of a nexus between the Congress and the banned ULFA. The Congress has so far not taken a definite stand on the killings, he said.
