GUWAHATI: An Assam MLA has decided not to eat the food of assembly canteen, for he is apprehensive of death from “secret killers”.
“Under the BJP regime, the secret killers are on the prowl. Secret killings have started yet again in Assam. We all have to be careful. I appeal to people to be careful when somebody offers food,” Mariani MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi of the Congress told journalists.
“I am afraid of eating food in the assembly. I will bring my own food from home,” the three-time MLA said.
The assembly has a canteen where lawmakers, as well as others, eat their food.
The second term (1996-2001) of former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of the Asom Gana Parishad was marked by “secret killings”. During that period, scores of people, mostly relatives of insurgents belonging to United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), were gunned down by masked men.
Kurmi said his suspicion about impending secret killings got strengthened after the mysterious death of Aditya Hazarika, a local leader of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), in Upper Assam’s Duliajan on March 9. The police picked up three of his friends for questioning. The AASU had taken the lead in the agitation against Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The MLA sniffed a conspiracy over the manner in which the authorities were dealing with the health of ailing and arrested RTI activist Akhil Gogoi who is in judicial custody.
“I suspect that a conspiracy is being hatched to kill Akhil Gogoi by giving him slow poison in jail. There is perhaps a plan to take his life through a henchman who will come in the guise of a cop, doctor or prisoner,” the MLA said.
Gogoi was arrested by the police in the wake of the violent protests against the CAA in December last year. Subsequently, the National Investigation Agency took his custody for his alleged linkage with the CPI (Maoist). Earlier, a case in this connection was registered with a police station in Guwahati.