Swami Agnivesh wants PM to 'embarrass' Tarun Gogoi

Slamming Tarun Gogoi for the police firing in Guwahati on June 22 in which a 9-year-old boy was killed, social activist Swami Agnivesh on Thursday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should 'embarrass' the Assam chief minister by taking out a padayatra in Guwahati.

"Just as Rahul Gandhi has undertaken a padayatra in Uttar Pradesh to embarrass (Chief Minister) Mayawati, the prime minister who represents Assam in Parliament should go on a padayatra here to embarrass Tarun Gogoi," Agnivesh told reporters.

Demanding a judicial inquiry into the police firing and violence, he said that eviction of illegal settlers on government land should be done properly and peacefully, and not by using elephants to pull down houses or by police armed with lathis and guns.

Claiming that the violence by farmers could have been averted had Gogoi talked to them, he said, "We are ready to mediate between him and the people on the matter."

On June 22, farmers of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti had tried to enter the high security zone of the state secretariat at Dispur. They had torched cars when the police tried to thwart their efforts, prompting the protestors to open fire.