Union Home Minister L. K. Advani admitted that the situation in the North-East states was a cause for concern. He said that four North-Eastern states, namely Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Assam were facing serious law and order problem, while the other four states of the region were relatively peaceful. The Union Home Minister was replying to a calling attention motion sponsored by G. M. Banatwalla, Rajkumar Wancha, Paban Singh Ghatowar, Dr. Raghubansh Prasad Singh and Bijoy Krishna Handique in the Lok Sabha.

The Home Minister further rejected the demand of the Congress for recalling Assam Governor S. K. Sinha observing that he had not taken any parochial stand on the recent killings of Hindi-speaking people by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). However, the Opposition was not satisfied with Mr. Advani’s reply and staged a walkout.

The motion was debated hotly amidst charges and counter-charges between the Congress and the BJP over the allegation of nexus between ULFA and political parties and attack on religious and linguistic minorities. The main thrust of Congress members’ attack was the recent statement made by the Assam Governor advising the Biharis to retaliate and his charge that non-Assamese were being killed to make way for illegal immigrants.

The Union Home Minister, initially refused to say anything on this subject saying that there could be no reference to the Governor without a proper motion. Later, Mr. Advani, without referring to the Governor by name, informed that after the controversy broke out