The letter sent by Sarania, dated May 6 (20/NKSILA/2016) stated that the “activites of extremist have been lesser after starting Operation All Out.
Months before the attack, Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania had written to the home ministry urging them to not withdraw army camps from vulnerable areas in the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD), stating that withdrawal of the camps may lead to “unwanted violence”.
However, in a reply to that letter, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju wrote that as per the provisions of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution, the state needs to take care of the law and order. The army camps were put in place after the spate of violence inflicted by the NDFB in 2014, which left 82 people dead and hundreds homeless.
The letter sent by Sarania, dated May 6 (20/NKSILA/2016) stated that the “activites of extremist have been lesser after starting Operation All Out. But according to public source, still armed people are seen there often (sic).” He further wrote that Deocharai, Naketra, Kholabazar and Mohanpur under Chirang district were secured by the CRPF, while Kalaibari and Santipur were under the SSB. Sarania had urged the home ministry to secure the areas during the elections.
In reply to that, Rijiju replied, via a letter on July 5 that he got the issue examined and stated that “‘police’ and ‘public order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, and therefore the State Governments are primarily responsible for maintaining the law & order situation in the State.”
Rijiju further wrote that the CAPFs are made available to the state government on their specific request to assist them in maintaining public order, and that due to the state elections some CAPFs were deployed on a short term basis. “... still sufficient number of CAPFs are available in the State (sic),” he wrote.
Sarania, an independent MLA, was earlier a commander of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, the state’s most prominent militant outfit. Speaking to dna, he said that the locals in his constituency, who usually carry information about extremists in the area, are scared to approach the police.
“The militants will harm them in that case. Most of the people killed in the attack are Bodos, and if the militants wanted to fight for the rights of the Bodos, this would not have been the case. Delhi thinks that the Bodo militants are against the “immigrants”, but Bodoland has several Rajbongshis, Coonch Rajbongshis and Sautals, apart from Muslims. NDFB is simply looking to be relevant again,” he said, adding that the border area where the shootout happened is populated by people from several communities.
He said that the disaster could have been averted if timely action was taken. With the BPF joining the ruling BJP, he said that the militants feel that their relevance has been eroded.
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