More blasts shake off Gogoi calm

Violence continued to rock Assam for the third day today, with a powerful explosion right in front of the Pradesh Congress Committee office ...

Violence continued to rock Assam for the third day today, with a powerful explosion right in front of the Pradesh Congress Committee office here which left one person killed and seven injured. In yet another explosion, at least 20 people were injured in Sibsagar in Upper Assam.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who till the other day claimed that the state’s law and order situation had registered ‘‘remarkable improvement’’, today admitted that the situation was ‘‘not normal’’ and asked the security forces to step up vigil.

Today’s blast in Guwahati occurred around 6.40 pm in front of Rajiv Bhavan, the PCC headquarters, two minutes after Governor Ajai Sinha had passed by. An unidentified person was killed on the spot, while six others who were seriously injured have been hospitalised.

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Another blast occurred around the same time in front of the Sibsagar town police station in Upper Assam, with official sources saying that 20 people were injured. At least 25 explosions have occurred within a span of 48 hours across the state since Wednesday, prompting the Opposition AGP and BJP to demand dismissal of the government.

Meanwhile, the BJP organised a ‘‘Dispur Chalo’’ programme today, aiming at a gherao of the state Assembly, with former BJP national president Venkaiah Naidu leading the protesters who demanded immediate dismissal of the Congress government. The police had to resort to lathicharge and over 2,000 volunteers were arrested and released later in the evening.

Naidu called the Congress regimes in Delhi and Dispur autocratic and said the present situation in the country reminded one of the Emergency days of 1975-77. ‘‘The way the Congress is trying to throttle democracy reminds us of the Emergency when even the faintest voice of protest was subjugated by violent and undemocratic means,’’ he said.

The Opposition AGP, which staged a walk-out in the State Assembly for the fourth day today, ridiculed Gogoi and said the law and order situation was now under the ULFA’s control. ‘‘While there is an elected government of the Congress in the state, it is only behaving like a helpless spectator with ULFA’s commander-in-chief spreading violence at his own sweet will,’’ Brindaban Goswami, AGP president and Leader of the Opposition, said.