CPI leader146;s death rocks Assam House on day 1

The Opposition staged a walkout on Monday in the Assam Assembly after they failed to move an adjournment motion on the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

The Opposition staged a walkout on Monday in the Assam Assembly after they failed to move an adjournment motion on the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

Leader of Opposition Chandra Mohan Patowari moved the adjournment motion to discuss the death of senior CPI leader from Morigaon, Manoj Deka on July 4 allegedly after being brutally assaulted by police constable Rafiqul Islam. He said it was not an ordinary incident and smacked of political conspiracy.

Deka, state committee member and secretary of the CPI8217;s Morigaon district unit, suffered head injuries after he was assaulted by Islam, a PSO of Kamal Bora, the officer in-charge of Morigaon police station on July 1. He died three days later.

8220;The Congress-led Government of Tarun Gogoi has failed to provide security to life and property of the common man which is evident from the fact that a constable could assault a senior and prominent citizen of a small district town leading to his death,8221; Patowari said. He also referred to several incidents including the death of a namghoria village priest who was allegedly assaulted by Army personnel in Sivasagar recently and the attacks on former Bodo Liberation Tigers BLT cadres by NDFB militants. 8220;The common man is today living under the fear of death,8221; he said.

8220;Assam8217;s overall law and order situation is turning from bad to worse under the Gogoi government, and this is evident from the recent report of the Union Home Ministry,8221; Patowari said.

He said the state Government was taken for a ride by the Dima Halam Daoga DHD which had stalled construction on the four-lane East-West Corridor and a broad gauge railway track in the NC Hills district, and said that the Government was a 8220;total failure.8221;

Echoing his views veteran CPI leader Drupad Bargohain lambasted the Gogoi government. 8220;While most of the political leaders killed in Assam in the past were victims of militant attacks, Manoj Deka8217;s is the first instance of a policeman killing a political leader,8221; Bargohain said. He also asked why the officer whose PSO had killed Deka, was not yet arrested.

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Other senior opposition leaders including Mission Ranjan Das BJP, Uddhab Barman CPI-M and Aditya Langthasa AUDF joined Patowari to move the adjournment motion and criticised the Government over the issue.

Speaking on behalf of the Chief Minister, Forest and Tourism Minister Rockybul Hussain, said the state Government had already ordered a judicial probe into the incident headed by a retired High Court judge.8221; If the Opposition wants we can even go for an inquiry commission headed by a sitting judge,8221; Health Minister H B Sharma said.

The Government named former High Court judge P C Phukan to head inquiry commission and asked him to wind up the probe within six months. The notice was issued on July 1, Sharma added.