From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday unveiled a Martyrs’ Memorial altar dedicated to Ganeshguri bomb blast victims.
A large number of people in Assam on Tuesday paid tearful homage to over 90 persons whose lives were snapped untimely by the serial blasts on October 30, 2008 that continue to haunt the psyche of the people of Assam even after four years.
Ninety persons were killed over 540 were injured as nine back-to-back blasts ripped through four places in the State – Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta Road – on that ‘Black Friday’ and the bloodbath will remain hard to forget.
No wonder, thousands of people got together on several blast sites in the State on Monday to remember, pay tributes to those killed in the serial terror as well as to denounce the terror.
The people also condemned the failure of the government to hand out examplary punishment to those involved in the gruesome terror attack.
Assam’s one of the most revered sculptors Biren Singha has set up a memorial at Ganeshguri in the heart of Guwahati city where the most devastating of all the blasts occurred, in memory of those lives lost.
While thousands of people paid floral tributes at the site to the terror victims, at least fifty noted artists from the State on Tuesday drew touching paintings under the banner of ‘Canvas 30/10’ denouncing terror and hoping for restoration of peace in Assam.
Joining the people in paying respect to the terror victims Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said terrorism had taken a heavy toll on the people of Assam. “Terrorism hardly solves any problem, it has rather added to the problems and woes of the State. It has brought darkness to the State.”
“We have by and large managed to contain terror in the State to a great extent, but still much needed be done. Those who are indulging in violence should better abjure violence and join the mainstream. The state government would continue to deal terror mongers with iron hand.”
“What is most significant is the sympathy of the common people to insurgents who are youths from the State, have dwindled drastically because of the heinous and dastardly acts of terror over the years. As a result terrorism too is on the wane in the State,” Gogoi asserted.
The CBI which investigated the serial terror case, found involvement of Bodo tribe terror outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) led by Ranjan Daimary and named Daimary as the prime accused in the case. Besides 21 other persons were also charge-sheeted in the case. Out of those seven accused are absconding.
Interpol red corner alert has been issued against five of the absconding persons. Ranjan Daimary is now lodged in a jail in Assam after his arrest by Bangladesh authority over two years back. The NDFB faction led by Daimary is now looking forward for dialogue with Government of India.