Exodus of northeastern people: BJP slams government for intelligence failure

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha also slammed Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi for inaction, who claimed he always suspected foreign hand in the incidents.

NEW DELHI: A day after India blamed Pakistan for rumours and SMSes that forced thousands of northeast citizens to flee other states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday slammed the government for intelligence failure.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha also slammedAssam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who has claimed he always suspected foreign hand in the incidents. Sinha questioned Gogoi's inaction.

"The Assam chief minister said he always felt there is Pakistan's hand in the incidents. A Congress chief minister is saying this, it's clearly an intelligence failure," Sinha said.

"It was a social media aggression unleashed by Pakistan and the government could not do anything.

"Instead, when there was an exodus from so many states, the home minister questioned only the Karnataka chief minister," Joshi said.

Home Secretary RK Singh Saturday said 76 web sites with morphed images of Assam and Myanmar violence had been identified for the panic run and that the bulk of these were uploaded in Pakistan.

The government has imposed a 15-day ban on bulk SMSs and MMSs to counter rumours of imminent attacks on northeastern people living in other states to avenge the clashes between Bodo tribals and Muslims in Assam

Thousands from the northeast fled this week Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The panic has now subsided.