Gills remark on Talukdar leads to protests in Assam

Activists of AASU,AJYCP and several other groups burnt Gills effigies.

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Former supercop K P S Gill revisiting the row over the death of Khargeswar Talukdar of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) he is known as the first martyr of the Assam movement has stirred a hornets nest.

At a press conference organized by a sports body in Tezpur last week,Gill reportedly said Talukdar did not die of police action but had drowned. Gill is believed to have claimed post-mortem examination report too said so.

After the incident in 1979,there had been similar claims with police insisting he drowned and votaries of

the Assam movement saying he died in police action. One version said he was beaten to death and thrown into a ditch.

Story continues below this ad

Activists of AASU,AJYCP and several other groups burnt Gills effigies.

He should tender a public apology for making such an unfounded remark, AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy and general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi said,while AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya said Talukdar died in police action.

The police action is said to have taken place during a blockade on national highway at Bhawanipur to prevent Congress candidate Begum Abida Ahmed,wife of the late President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed,from filing her nomination papers from Barpeta ignoring a boycott call. Reacting to Gills remark,Talukdars mother Sabitrabala Talukdar said,Gills remark not only hurt me but families of 855 who laid down their lives during AASUs movement of 1979-85.