Is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) unhappy with the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government? After reports of violence spreading to other parts of the state, sources have told NDTV that the home ministry had asked the state government to make preventive arrests.
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According to sources, the MHA had asked the Assam government to consider arresting leaders of groups who appear to be inciting violence. Home Secretary RK Singh had asked Assam to take strong and decisive action, sources said.
The All Assam Minority Students' Union had called for a 12-hour bandh in the state today to protest against the ongoing violence in lower Assam. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported in Goalpara, Nagaon and Tezpur districts during the bandh with a curfew having been imposed in the latter. Three houses were set on fire in the Ambagan village in Nagaon district; police had to resort to firing in the air.
Last night, four incidents of firing were reported from the Kokrajhar district in lower Assam. While one was killed in Bhumki in the Salakati town, four others were injured in the Pakritol village after unidentified gunmen opened fire. Another person was also reported to have sustained injuries in Gossaigaon.
The fresh round of violence comes just two days after five people were killed in Chirang district when they had reportedly stepped out of a relief camp in Amguri to buy groceries. 23 companies of paramilitary forces and the police along with three columns of the Army have been stationed in Chirang.
With the situation still tense in the state, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has promised strict action against the culprits, adding that the clashes have "defamed Assam internationally." "Whosoever is involved in the violence will be punished...All guilty will be punished," Mr Shinde said.
The state was paralysed yesterday following a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Bajrang Dal. Supporters burnt tyres and pelted stones at vehicles in different parts of the state following which the police took nearly 500 of them into preventive custody say sources. Schools, colleges and educational institutions, commercial and business establishments, financial institutions remained closed with attendance in government offices thin.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has already ordered authorities to crackdown on trouble-makers. "The administration will fire at anyone who resorts to arson and violence," Mr Gogoi said on Sunday. He has also sent six of his ministers to tour the tense lower Assam region and ensure that the situation is brought under control.
Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta told NDTV, "The truth is Assam has become a dustbin... You see whenever someone is thrown out of a neighbouring state, say Arunachal Pradesh or Meghalaya, because of suspected nationality, he comes and settles down in Assam," he elaborates. His obvious reference to the now-scrapped infamous IMDT (Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunal) Act that put the onus of proving a suspect's citizenship on the state and not vice-versa.
Over 90 people have died in over a month in ethnic violence in parts of lower Assam between the indigenous Bodo tribals and Muslim settlers. 2.39 lakh people are still displaced. In Chirang, 40,000 people are living in 22 relief camps.
The strife in Assam also led to a fear psychosis among people from the North-East living in cities like Bangalore and Pune. Thousands of them left the cities after hate messages and morphed images were circulated through mobile phones and social networking sites showing the targeting of people from the region. The Karnataka government has been urging the north-eastern community to come back, assuring them that the city is 'safe'.
