More flak is coming the way North East Study Group, which says, it was only referring to some home truths. The latest to condemn the findings are the parliamentarians who met under the aegis of the North Eastern Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (NERCPA) for two days in Guwahati to deliberate on the impact of insurgency on socio-economic development.

What irked them most was the contention that Chief Ministers buy their MLAs. The report is said to have put the going price at Rs. 11 lakh per MLA. The claim is serious and invites parliamentary privilege even if it is made in a document meant for limited circulation.  Former bureaucrats authored the document.

Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA, Dilip Kumar Saikia, referred to the Study Group report. It sparked off an animated heated discussion at NERCPA.  Prithibi Majhi, the Speaker of Assam, who is also chairman of the parliamentary association, presided over the session.

Some MLAs said they would raise the issue on the floor of their assemblies. “You cannot make such sweeping comments and then hope to get away”, remarked one senior legislator.

Addressing the conference, Brindabon Goswami, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly, said parliamentarians have a key role to play in finding a peaceful solution to the vexed insurgency problem that had stymied the economic growth. He pointed out that violence had been adopted as a means by a section of people who are frustrated at the non-fulfilment of their aspirations.

Assam Governor, Ajai Singh, in his valedictory address, said, ‘Insurgency is disappearing from Assam and normalcy is fast returning. It is a matter of time when other states of the region can hope to get respite’. As a former army general, Ajai Singh knows northeast insurgency very intimately. In his view, it is not the ‘classical’ insurgency but  a law and order problem with an ethnic dimension, which required a different approach to solve it.

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