The Opposition Asom Gana Parishad here on Friday took out a massive protest march to mount pressure on the government to detect and deport Bangladeshi infiltrators, besides asking for intervention of the Prime Minister in restoring peace and harmony in the state.
AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who led the protest march, demanded that the government should update the National Register of Citizenship and restore communal harmony in the BTC area. He also condemned the incidents of violence reported from different parts of the state as a result of the bandh enforced by some minority organisations, particularly the attacks on scribes by miscreants.
Pointing out that the government had prior information of deteriorating law and order in BTC, Mr Mahanta said that violence broke out only because the government failed to intervene on time. The protest march started from AGP headquarters and concluded at the office of Kamrup deputy commissioner’s office.
If turn out in the protest march was any indicator, the recent unrest in BTC has re-ignited the oust Bangladeshi campaign in the state. Similar protest march was organised by All-Assam Students’ Union in Upper Assam’s Sibsagar district.
The slogan-shouting thousands of people demanded that Bangladeshi infiltrators should be detected and deported. The spontaneous protest against infiltrators, which started from Jorhat, the hometown of chief minister Tarun Gogoi is now reported from all over the state.
Meanwhile, the AASU, along with other student organisations of northeastern states, has also called a bandh on September 6 in six states of the Northeast, barring Assam, “to launch a vigorous movement to press for detection and deportation of Bangladeshi infiltrators.”
Mr Bhattacharyya, who heads the Northeast Students’ Organisation said, “It is regrettable that the Assam government failed to update the NRC despite the PM agreeing to it way back in 2005.”
The student leaders of northeastern states who agreed to join hands to launch a movement to drive out Bangladeshi infiltrators however clarified that their movement was not communal.