The Hindu : Manmohan seeks larger deployment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 25, 2003

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Manmohan seeks larger deployment

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 24. Dissatisfied with the strength of the Central forces sent to Assam to assist the State Government tackle the violence, the senior Congressman and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh, met the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on Sunday night along with party colleague and deputy leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil, to press for larger deployment of para-military forces.

Briefing mediapersons here today about his meeting, Dr. Singh said the Government's contention was that 113 companies were positioned in Assam. While the Home Secretary — who was also present at the meeting — assured the Congressmen that more Central forces would be sent to Assam, there was a general feeling that the Centre would not be able to meet the State's demand for larger deployment immediately because of the coming elections.

Asked about the Congress refusal to see the Assam violence as a law and order problem when the party had launched a broadside against the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, last year in the wake of the communal carnage, Dr. Singh said the two were not comparable. Assam, he said, was not facing a law and order problem.

He said the Congress had been asking the Centre for the past year-and-a-half to deploy more Central forces in the State in view of the insurgency there, but in vain. By the Congress calculation, Assam requires 180 companies of para-military forces. As to whether any AICC functionary would visit the State to take stock of the situation, he said the need of the hour was to end the violence, and nothing should be done to divert the State Government's attention from this task.

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