Assam is boiling with problems. The elections at this movement is expected to go against Ruling party. AGP and BJP combine will win 2009 elections.
Congress : 3
AGP and BJP - 9
Keen contest either way : 2
from Times on line:
Double bombing kills seven, one day before Indian PM visit.
Indian firefighters in action after a blast in Guwahati today
Two bombs ripped through markets in India’s northeastern region of Assam today, killing at least seven people.
The attacks came a day before Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, was due to arrive in Guwahati, the state capital on the parliamentary campaign trail.
Local authorities said they suspected the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which has been fighting for an independent Assam since 1979, was behind the bombings.
The ULFA, which has links to Islamic militants in neighbouring Bangladesh and has often staged attacks this time of year, is to mark the 30th anniversary of its founding tomorrow.
Today’s attacks raised particular concerns about the security threat across India during its marathon parliamentary elections, which are being held in several phases from April 16 to May 13.
The country is already on high alert because of the attacks on Mumbai in November, which it blames on Pakistani militants, but security forces remain woefully inadequate to deal with the scale of the threat.
Police officials in Assam said they thought the first bomb had been tied to a motorbike and exploded in a crowded market in Guwahati killing seven people, wounding at least 56 others, and setting fire to several cars and buildings.
The death toll was expected to rise as several people were critically injured, the officials said.
A few hours later, a second bomb tied to a bicycle went off in a market in the town of Dhekiajuli, 100 miles north of Guwahati, injuring at least six people, three of them critically, the officials said.
Hundreds of angry protesters blocked Guwahati’s main street after the two blasts, accusing local police of providing inadequate security.
"This is the handiwork of ULFA boys,” said G M Srivastava, Assam’s Director General of Police.
The Prime Minister’s office said that Mr Singh would go ahead with his planned visit to Assam tomorrow, and that security forces would take all the necessary precautions.
There was no immediate comment from ULFA, which was also blamed for a dozen bombs that killed at least 61 people in a single day in October in the worst such attack in the region.
ULFA is just one of many separatist movements that have led to the deaths of more than 50,000 people in India's seven northeastern states since India won its independence from Britain in 1947.
Assam – wedged between Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Burma - was an independent kingdom for more than six centuries until its conquest by the British in 1826.
By 1947 it was one of India’s three wealthiest regions. Today it is one of the three poorest states, even though it produces more than half of India’s tea and 17 per cent of its oil.
ULFA accuses the federal Government of plundering Assam’s natural resources, while neglecting basic infrastructure and services. It began peace talks with the Government in 2006 but they fell apart after six weeks.
