Assam minister Sanjoy Kishan apologises to banned Ulfa-I following ultimatum

Assam labour and employment minister, Sanjoy Kishan publicly apologised to Ulfa-Independent, a banned militant group, hours after the outfit gave him a 24-hour ultimatum to apologise for allegedly calling its chief Paresh Baruah a liar.

"Our Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is trying to create an atmosphere to bring Ulfa-I to the negotiating table to establish peace in Assam. And I don't want that atmosphere to be disturbed. I just talked about some youths joining Ulfa and if my comment hit the sentiment of Paresh Baruah in anyway, I seek apology for that," Kishan, who is a BJP MLA from Tinsukia told local news channels in Guwahati on Saturday evening.

Kishan is a BJP MLA from Tinsukia in eastern Assam, where Ulfa-I is believed to be still strong.

Soon after Kishan's apology, Ulfa-I issued a statement on Sunday morning stating that they decided to withdraw the plan for boycotting the BJP MLA following his apology.

In another statement emailed to media organisations on Saturday, Arunodoy Asom, secretary of the outfit's publicity wing warned that Kishan would be "boycotted" from public functions in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh district, if he fails to apologise within the timeframe.

Kishan on Friday reportedly said that Ulfa-I chief Paresh Baruah was lying that Biju Gogoi, a cadre of the outfit had committed suicide in its camp in February this year. The outfit made the fact about Gogoi's death public days after two of its newly recruited cadres, Dhanjit Das and Sanjeeb Sarma were "executed" on May 7 after they were found to be allegedly spying for police and other security agencies. Police, however, rejected Ulfa-I's claim.

The deaths and the warning comes amid Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's repeatedly appeals to Paresh Baruah to join talks. Sarma stated that efforts was underway to bring the outfit to the negotiating table.