Mahanta accused of double standards

By Our Staff Correspondent

GUWAHATI, JUNE 29. The Assam PCC chief, Mr. Tarun Gogoi, today criticised the Mahanta Government for ordering the police to serve `quit India' notices in a systematic manner on a large number of Bengali Hindus in various parts of the State, calling them `illegal migrants' from Bangladesh, though they were all Indian citizens.

He said the Congress MPs from Assam would raise the issue in the coming monsoon session of Parliament. The matter will also be taken with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

Mr. Gogoi accused the Chief Minister, Mr. Mahanta, of adopting `double standards' and resorting to `double-speak' on the issue of repealing the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) or IM(DT) Act.

In an interview to a local newspaper, Mr. Mahanta has been quoted as saying: ``We have been repeatedly writing to (the Centre) to get the IM(DT) Act scrapped. We have never taken any other position on the issue. Yes, we have scrupulously avoided publicity on this because we strongly feel that publicizing it will not help solve the question. On the contrary it will complicate matters.''

Referring to the interview, Mr. Gogoi said Mr. Mahanta had been publicly stating all these years that the IM(DT) Act was a Central law and it was for the Centre to retain or repeal it but as the Chief Minister he would protect the minorities whether the Act remained or not. He had never publicly pleaded for repealing the Act.

Mr. Gogoi said now it appeared Mr. Mahanta was saying one thing in public and another to the Centre.

He said one thing for the consumption of the minority voters while his advice to the Centre was just the opposite.

Meanwhile, a specific case of deporting Indian citizens was reported by Mr. Animesh Mazumdar, joint convener of the Forum for Linguistic Minorities.

Four Bengali Hindus of Sonapur, about 28 kms from Guwahati, were served with quit India notices a week ago, then brought to the Panbazar police station here and next day pushed into Bangladesh from the Mankachar border in south Assam.

Mr. Mazumdar said three of them had already come back, while the fourth was yet untraced.

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