A day earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma lashed out at the Congress party, citing riots in Assam's Kokrajhar in 2008 and 2012 under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, claiming that the former Prime Minister never visited Kokrajhar during the mayhem.
To which Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) reacted sharply by sharing some archived pictures of the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alongside former chief minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi and a delegation visiting Kokrajhar relief camps in the 2012.
In a statement on Thursday, the APCC said, “The chief minister, who is under pressure from losing his seat every 24 hours, stated that previous Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn’t visit the violence-hit areas in Kokrajhar during the 2012 riots, but, this is not true. We have evidence! During the Kokrajhar riots in 2012, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the relief camps and assessed the victims' conditions."
Apart from late Tarun Gogoi in the archived pictures, former Assam cabinet minister and deputy leader of opposition in Assam Legislative Assembly Rakibul Hussain is also seen accompanying the former Prime Minister in the relief camps.
It's interesting to note that the delegation that visited Kokrajhar on that day didn't include the chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was also the state cabinet minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government.
Earlier on Wednesday while addressing a press conference, CM Sarma said, “There were two incidents in Kokrajhar that dates back to 2008 and 2012. In 2008, a total of 64 people were killed; 3,211 houses burnt; 115 people injured and 11,690 people affected in Darrang and Udalguri districts. There are no records of Dr Manmohan Singh ever visiting Assam during that time. Today in the Parliament, an MP from Assam said that Manmohan Singh had visited Assam during the riots. But this is not true.”
“Dr Manmohan Singh never visited Kokrajhar during the 2008 violence. In 2012, though he visited the riot-hit areas, it was just a one-hour visit. A token visit by a prime minister was not responsible for resolving the conflict as it continued even after his visit,” CM Sarma added.
