We set up detention camp following Gauhati High Court order: Tarun Gogoi

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Contradicting the Prime Minister’s recent statement that there is no detention camp in the nation, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said the Congress government in Assam did set up a detention camp in the State following an order from the bench of Justice BK Sharma of the Gauhati High Court, in 2009.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan here on Friday, Gogoi said, “The Prime Minister is lying. Apart from the one in Assam, there are detention camps in other States as well. The detention camp which the Congress government set up in Assam was following an order the High Court. However, why did the BJP government sanctioned Rs 46 crore for the construction of a detention camp with a capacity of 3,000 inmates at Matia in Goalpara district, in 2018? This is going to be the biggest-ever detention camp in the country. It was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had suggested the setting up of a detention camp in 1998.”

On the proposed NRC all over India, Gogoi said, “The now the Prime Minister says that there has been no discussion on the NRC. Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself raised the issue in the Parliament. Was it not discussed there? During the election campaign the Prime Minister himself said that all Bangladeshis would have to pack up. Now he has brought an Act to bring foreigners.”

Hitting out at Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Gogoi said, “Dispur obeying every diktat of the Centre has led to the current unrest in the State. Both the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister are responsible for such a situation. Now they’re taking out peace processions. They won’t succeed. If they want peace in the State, they’ll have to dump the Act.”

Gogoi further said, “The Chief Minister holds the Congress responsible giving shelter to illegal immigrants in the State. Why haven’t they detected and deported them in the past four years? Who prevents them from deporting foreigners? Now detention camps are obsolete, so is the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). Since the Bangladesh government has sought the list of their citizens staying in India, give them the list. They’ll take their people back.”

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