Assam government tables white paper on law and order

GUWAHATI - The Assam government Wednesday tabled a white paper on the overall development and law and order situation in the last nine years of Congress rule in the state.

“We have been able to provide good governance and do justice to the people of Assam during the last nine years of our rule in the state,” Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said after tabling the white paper in the Assam assembly.

The decision to table the white paper follows a strident demand by the opposition over the past few weeks seeking a detailed progress card from the government on the overall economic development and insurgency situation in Assam.

“The opposition demanded a white paper and now it is for the people of Assam to judge the performance of our government compared to the two terms of the AGP (Asom Gana Parishad) from 1985 to 1989 and 1996 to 2001,” the chief minister said.

“The opposition has all along accused our government of failure in all fronts and now it is for the people of Assam to draw a comparison by way of the white paper.”

The white paper would be debated in the assembly Thursday and the chief minister would reply to the debate Friday - both the proceedings wil be telecast live on local TV channels.

The chief minister gave a comparative analysis of funds received during the last nine years of Congress rule since 2001 and the previous two terms of the AGP, besides statistics of casualties in insurgency related violence in the same period.

“The law and order situation in Assam has drastically improved during the past nine years compared to the mayhem during the AGP’s two terms,” Gogoi said.

“We are working for the poor people of Assam and considering the pace with which we carried our development mission, we are sure to come back to power for the third straight term.”