Former CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has dismissed the Saikia Commission report as “biased” and “politically motivated”, and accused the Congress-led government of repeatedly violating the Commission of Inquiries Act.“The Saikia Commission report is biased and aimed at maligning me and the AGP-led coalition government that I headed between 1996 and 2001. Moreover, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has adopted a policy of appeasement towards the insurgent groups through this report,” Mahanta said immediately after Gogoi tabled the Commission report in the Assembly here on Thursday.“It is not just aimed at maligning me and the regional party, but also intended at finishing me off politically. Gogoi thinks he can use the Saikia Commission report to finish me. But that is not going to happen,” Mahanta said. He said there was no mention of the term “secret killings” in the government notification issued to appoint the Saikia Commission, and the term was just being used repeatedly by the Congress against AGP on the eve of each and every election in the state.“But what is more surprising is that the Congress-led government has repeatedly flouted provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. Firstly, Gogoi dismissed and rejected the report of the Justice JN Sharma Commission (appointed earlier) because it did not suit the Congress party and its government. Secondly, the Act requires that the government table any and every report of the Commission of Inquiry in the State Assembly within six months of submission,” Mahanta alleged.Interestingly, while the Congress-led government recently announced its decision to table the Saikia Commission report, Mahanta, through a writ petition, got the Gauhati High Court direct the state Government to table the JN Sharma Commission report as well.
