By Mumtaz Alam, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi, 06 May 2014: Full five days have passed since the brutal Bodo militants’ attack killed 31 Bengali-speaking Muslims mostly women and children in Kokrajhar and Baksa districts of Assam, but neither the state nor the centre – both ruled by Congress party – have announced any compensation for the victim families.
Organizations busy in relief work at make-shift camps there said the government is citing Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct for not announcing any relief package. The three-phase polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam ended on 24 April – more than a week before the attack.
Safiul Islam, a relief worker, said the government has cited the Model Code of Conduct that is in operation since the election notification for Lok Sabha election 2014 was issued in March.
Welfare Party of India president Mujtaba Farooque, under the protection of Army personnel, was the first to reach the violence victims in Baksa district on Monday morning. He distributed relief among them and listened to their plights. Mr. Farooque confirmed to India Tomorrow that no government compensation has been announced yet even though he and other Muslim leaders had met Governor JB Patnaik on Sunday and demanded relief for the victims.
But within 24 hours of the Maharashtra train accident in which 22 people were killed, Railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge not only expressed grief at the tragedy but also announced compensation of Rs two lakh to the families of those killed in the accident and Rs 50,000 to the seriously injured ones.
The Diva-Sawantwadi passenger train had derailed on Konkan Railway route in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on Sunday morning and the government made the relief announcement on Monday.
The Muslim delegation under the leadership of Hafiz Rashid Chaudhary, Vice President of All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat had met the Assam governor on Sunday and submitted a memorandum comprising 9 demands – the government has not acted on most of them even after the passage of two days.
The delegation demanded the Governor to:
(1) dissolve Bodoland Territorial Council immediately
(2) seize all legal and illegal arms in BTAD
(3) deploy army in the affected areas immediately to ensure security of the lives and properties of people residing in vulnerable areas
(4) arrest Smti. Pramila Rani Brahmma, Ex-Minister and other leaders involved with making incitement immediately
(5) hand over all cases of violence, killings and arsoning etc. to CBI instead of NIA
(6) pay adequate compensation @ Rs 10 lakhs to the next of kin of persons killed and Rs 5 lakhs to the injured and other persons whose houses have been burnt
(7) ensure prosecution of all Political Personnel as well as other Govt. Officials on duties found involved with the incidents and for dereliction of duties
(8) arrange to send an all-party goodwill Mission to the affected areas
(9) impress upon the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Home Minister of India for their immediate visit to the affected areas
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