Guwahati, Jan. 20: Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today accused governor Banwarilal Purohit of turning Raj Bhavan into the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Gogoi criticised Purohit for his remarks that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was an "atheist" and Ahom general Lachit Borphukan was a "saviour of Hinduism". He said the governor's remarks were not isolated ones but part of a "concerted" effort to divide Assamese society on communal lines "so the BJP can take advantage".

Gogoi asked Purohit to discharge his duty as governor instead of playing the role of a propagator of RSS ideologies.

"Purohit is talking against Nehru. He himself was a Congress legislator once. How can he talk against Nehru? He joined the BJP only when the Congress denied him a ticket to contest elections," Gogoi told reporters here.

He said it was the first time in the state's history that such communal comments were made by a governor. "It never happened even when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister," he said. Gogoi also accused Purohit of trying to destroy the secular character of Assamese society.

On the other hand, he criticised the BJP-led state government for selling "old wine in new bottle" by renaming some of the schemes launched by the previous Congress government.

"Yesterday, the Assam government launched the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana for poor, homeless families. The scheme is just another version of Indira Awas Yojana. Instead of renaming existing schemes, the government should concentrate on launching new schemes for the benefit of people," Gogoi said.

He said the Centre had decided to allot Rs 1.84 lakh against an IAY house when the Congress government was in power but later decided to reduce the amount by Rs 60,000. "The Sonowal government's self-satisfaction that the Centre has allotted Rs 1.30 lakh per house has no value because it has failed to get approval of the amount the Centre had initially decided to allot per house when we were in power," he said.