SIT to probe incident of violence by Assam Youth Congress chief
Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday alleged that during the December 11 protests the State Youth Congress chief set ablaze the dais built for Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Guwahati.
Also, the Minister announced an SIT probe into it even as protesters came out in large numbers across Assam on Tuesday demanding repeal of the amended Citizenship Act and condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “ridiculing” the agitators with his comment that protesters could be identified by the clothes they were wearing. There was no violence, nevertheless.
The Gauhati High Court, in the meantime, directed the Assam Government to consider restoration of internet services, both mobile internet and broadband, from 3 pm on Tuesday. Also, in a major relief to hundreds of stranded passengers, flight operations and railway services resumed in Guwahati. The SIT will be headed by Deputy Inspector General (CID) Mridulananda Sarmah and the State Government will also urge the Centre to depute an officer either from the CBI or the NIA for six months to help in the investigations, Sarma said.
“We have evidence of Assam Youth Congress president Kamrul Islam Choudhury being involved in the attack at the State Secretariat in Dispur on GS Road,” Sarma said, showing a photograph of the December 11 incident.
Choudhury had set ablaze the dais built for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Guwahati. Abe’s visit was later cancelled due to the protests, the State Finance and Health Minister alleged.
“The attack on the State Secretariat was a big conspiracy, which we want the CBI to investigate and we will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah soon regarding this,” he said.
The Government has evidence that a leading academician working at a Central educational institution was monitoring the “entire exercise”, Sarma further said without naming the individual. Sarma also claimed that there is evidence of an NSUI leader being involved in another incident that occurred at Kalakashetra in the Panjabari area of Guwahati. NSUI is the students’ wing of the Congress party.
“I want to make one thing very clear that these two incidents are different from the democratic protests by the AASU and the students of colleges and universities. These incidents of violence were carried out to put the blame on AASU, rather than the State Government,” Sarma added.
Meanwhile, protesters came out in large numbers across Assam on Tuesday demanding repeal of the amended Citizenship Act with women, youths and senior citizens taking out marches organised as part of ‘Mass Satyagrah’ by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) at several places. However, the situation remained largely peaceful.
“We warn the Government not to play with the sentiments of people who have come out on the roads. The Prime Minister says that he respects non-violent protesters, but the Government here is trying to dominate and suppress us,” AASU chief adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said.
AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi criticised the Prime Minister for his comment that protesters could be identified by the “clothes they are wearing”.
“It is unfortunate the PM cannot accept our dress and ridiculed us. We strongly condemn this. We will assemble everyday wearing our traditional dress,” he asserted.
Various agitational programmes began from Tuesday morning in many places, including Dhubri, Tezpur and Sivasagar. A protest gathering was also reported \at Nagaon, with people singing songs, reciting poems and performing skits.
The Dibrugarh Bar Association too observed ‘Satyagrah’ during the day and the AASU extended its support to the lawyers.
Assam had witnessed violent protests against the CAA and at least five people died during the course of the protests.
The HC directions came after it heard four PILs that highlighted the difficulties faced by people. A division bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice Ajay Lamba and Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua passed the order on Tuesday directing the State Government to consider restoration of Internet services.
However, the HC directed the authorities to take into consideration the input of the prevailing situation while restoring Internet services. And as many as 11 trains, including Manas Rhino passenger, of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Tuesday resumed services, a senior official said.