Demand for separate States turned violent with a 36-hour Assam bandh and a 12-hour rail blockade that crippled normal life in Assam on Friday.
Bodos, Karbi, Dimasas and Koch-Rajbongshis have demanded separate States. The hill district of Karbi Anglong witnessed violence with two persons killed and several injured. Karbi Anglong district witnessed violence for the third day with several groups of agitators setting ablaze Government establishments and buildings despite an indefinite curfew in force in Diphu and adjoining areas of the district.
Police had to resort to firing in several places to disperse the crowd who tried to damage Government offices and uproot railway tracks. Four persons were injured after police fired to disperse a crowd at Dongkamokam area. Police said that a group of people gheraoed the Dongkamokam police station demanding immediate release of a student leader, detained for his alleged involvement in an incident of arson in the last 48 hours.
“Four persons were injured in police firing there,” police said. “The situation has improved but it is far from being normal. We have decided to continue the curfew for some more time so that there is no more violence,” said senior police official.
It may be mentioned here that the Assam Government had sought 15 companies of paramilitary forces to contain the situation here. Already five companies of additional forces have arrived in the State. Meanwhile, the Statehood demand of the Bodo and Koch-Rajbongshis communities affected the normalcy in lower Assam districts on Friday. While the the train services had been disrupted across the State in view of the 12-hour rail blockade called by several organisations demanding a separate Bodoland State in the lines with Telangana, the 36 hours Assam bandh called by All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRSU) crippled the normal life in several lower Assam districts.