Non-Bodo Suraksha Samiti blocking NH 31, 37
Guwahati: At least 50 injured where police resorted to cane charge and tear gas shelling on a large groups of protesters from Non-Bodo Suraksha Samiti who were blocking multiple entry points to Guwahati city from the NH 31 and 37 on Monday.
The picketers assembled in large numbers at Amingaon, Jalukbari and Adabari areas since this morning to stage protests in support of their demands, including exclusion of non-Bodo villages from Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Council (BTAD) areas.
The Kamrup district administration had yesterday refused permission for the demonstration but the agitators decided to carry on with their protest in defiance of government order.
Police lathi-charge in Jalukbari area this morning when the situation grew volatile. At least 50 people were hurt in the police action, and over 10 of them admitted at a nearby government hospital.
Police later arrested 12 senior leaders of the Non-Bodo organization and detained nearly 300 protestors but released later.
“We can’t allow them to block the highway in the name of a democratic agitation. We used minimum force. Some leaders have been arrested to prevent further deterioration of the situation,” Senior superintendent of police Anand Prakash Tiwari said.
The protestors, on the other hand, accused the state government of neglecting the interests of non-Bodo communities residing in for districts of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council (BTC) . “The Gauhati High Court five months back directed the government to take steps to exclude the non-Bodo villages from the purview of the BTC. But the government has been sitting on it,” a leader of the agitating group said.
“We will prefer to die in the hands of police than the militant NDFB which is making life a hell for non-Bodos in BTC areas. Extortion and kidnapping have been rampant, but the state government had turned a blind eye to it. We have nothing to say on the separate Bodoland demand, but we want to be with Assam,” said another protestor.
The Non-Bodo Suraksha Samiti has been demanding exclusion of non-Bodo villages from BTC areas and opposing any division of the state to create new states. The Samiti members rued that the government’s failure to fulfill a promise which was made in September –end , to hold a CM-level talks within 10-15 days