In his address to the House today, Gogoi said, "We cannot wait for peace to come before we can develop. We have to usher in development in the State amid all this violence." He said, "The entire House should be united in this fight against terrorism. We have to give militants the message that we are not afraid of their acts."
Stating that unemployment is the main problem confronting the State followed by floods and terrorism, Gogoi said, "The government is always ready for talks with the militant outfits. However, we will no longer discuss the issue of sovereignty."
Gogoi was addressing the House during the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address.
Earlier, targeting the opposition AGP, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "The government’s stand against terrorism and terrorists is one of zero tolerance. The issue of terrorism can never be politicized. We can never make any progress on this front by isolating any of the parties, be it the Congress, the BJP or the AGP."
Urging the House to stand united in the fight against terrorism, Sarma said, "We should show the militants that life has not stopped after the October 30 serial blasts in the State. Strict action will be taken against the perpetrators of the October 30 serial blasts — be it the HuJI, the ULFA or the NDFB."
Referring to the involvement of a third force in the serial blasts last year, Sarma said ULFA chairman Paresh Barua and NDFB founder Ranjan Daimary have to be arrested in order to get to the third force. "Once we nab them, we will be able to reach the third force."
The House also witnessed a hot debate on the decision of the court to release nine ISI agents last year after the police failed to provide substantial evidence against them. On the AGP’s allegation that the ISI agents had to be freed due to the apathy of the ruling Congress, the Health Minister blamed the AGP government, which was in power at that time, for issuing a weak charge-sheet.
On former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s counter-statement that the ruling party should have issued a new charge-sheet if the earlier one was found to be weak, Sarma replied that the law did not permit that.