After killing 48 poor and defenceless migrants, most of them daily-wage earners originally from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, the ULFA today thumbed its nose at the Centre blaming the government for ending the dialogue process and “provoking our boys.”

“Why has New Delhi stopped the talks process?” asked Pradip Gogoi, vice-chairman of the ULFA, when asked what could be the reason behind the madness in the twin industrial districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh. Gogoi, who has been in the Central Jail here for over eight years now, blames the government for last night’s series of killings that the militant group carried out.

“Look how V K Duggal (Union Home Secretary who was here for a security review just days ago) speaks. He is provoking our boys. The government should have continued with the talks process. But instead it (the government) has shut the doors and is asking us to walk in,” Gogoi told The Sunday Express today.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today admitted it was not possible to provide protection to every citizen and termed the killing spree as “an act of cowardice.”

But the ULFA leader’s anger could hardly have been more misplaced given the profile of the victims.

Take 19-year-old Sabita of Dhola, 40 km east of Tinsukia, on the banks of the Brahmaputra. She had eloped with 29-year-old Mukesh and both had put up in the house of one Sriprasad Kanu, a workman sardar in a brick kiln at Sikorajan, thinking that was the safest place to hide until her parents’ temper cooled off.

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