New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call to militant organisations to come to the negotiation table, Congress on Saturday claimed that talks with different militant outfits in North East were initiated by Congress during its regime.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Ripun Bora, however, said that it is the responsibility of the government to pursue militant groups to shun the path of violence and bring them for talks.
"Talks started with militant groups started during Congress. When PV Narsimha Rao was the Prime Minister and Hiteswar Saikia was the Chief Minister of Assam, the first talk was held with United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). During that time many of the ULFA leaders had come overground," Bora asserted.
Notably, it was in 1992, the then Congress government both at the Centre and the State initiated a move to bring ULFA for peace talks.
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However, the attempt to bring ULFA leaders for talks had failed as the leaders, who were released from jail for talks, took the opportunity to go underground and later flee to Bangladesh where they had set up their camps.
Later, after many efforts, several top ULFA leaders surrendered and joined the mainstream.
Home Minister Amit Shah had recently claimed that it is due to the initiative taken by the BJP-led central government since 2019 that many underground organisations came to the negotiation table.
Reacting to Shah's statement, Bora said: "Bringing underground organisations to the negotiation table is a very sensitive issue. And it should not be politicised."
"Insurgency and violence cannot solve any problem. All rebel groups should shun the path of hatred and come for talks...we believe that ULFA should drop their demand for a Sovereign state," Bora added.
In fact, ever since ULFA was formed in the year 1979 in Assam, they have been demanding for Sovereignty of Assam. The demand was, however, denied by all successive governments at the Centre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called all the militant organisations to come forward for talks. PM Modi gave this call while addressing a mammoth gathering in Assam's Kokrajhar district commemorating the historic Bodo Accord.
The central government is currently in talks with five militant groups of the northeast including Khaplang and Issac Muivah factions of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), and United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA pro talk faction).
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