Guwahati: Normal life in Assam has been paralysed on Friday because of a dawn-to-dusk bandh called by Bajrang Dal and supported by the BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and several other organizations demanding arrest of action against All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a minority political party, and its leader Badaruddin Ajmal for alleged links with ‘jihadi forces in Bangladesh’.
Functioning in government offices was crippled while education institutions, banks and private sector offices/organisations remained closed because of the bandh notwithstanding the directives issued by the
government to defy the bandh.
The public transport system came to a grinding halt all over the state and city bus and tracker services were rendered out of gear in Guwahati city even as police arrested many Bajrang Dal activists all over the state for trying to enforce the bandh.
About 70 Bajrang Dal activists were arrested from different parts of Assam by police during the bandh hours for trying to enforce bandh.
Bajrang Dal and its allies demand disbanding of the AIUDF and arrest of its leader Badaruddin Ajmal, MP, after a national TV channel exposed the close link of the party and its leader with jihadi forces (Islamic fundamentalist groups) in Bangladesh quoting ‘intelligence report’.
The report alleged that the AIUDF and its leader Ajmal were involved in sending batches of Muslim youths from Assam to Bangladesh for undergoing Jihadi training.Faced with allegation of links with a jihadi groups in Bangladesh, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) stated that it would bring a national TV news channel to the curt for telecasting a ‘ baseless, motivated ‘ news against the party as well as its president Badaruddin Ajmal, an MP and a perfume mogul-turned-politician.
Ajmal said, “The AIUDF is committed to national security, sovereignty, integrity and unity. We have been taking a strong stand against terrorism.
The news channel has telecast defamatory, baseless and motivated news against me and AIUDF on the basis of unauthentic intelligence report. We are dragging the channel to the court.
It has put my personal image, my business, my political career and the prestige of my family at jeopardy.”Rattled by the grave allegation of having links with terror groups, Ajmal and a group of MLAs are now camping in New Delhi seeking appointment with the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister to clarify their stand over the ‘baseless allegation’ brought against the party by a section of the
media.
Meanwhile, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said that the government was not going to take any action
against the AIUDF or Ajmal on the basis of media reports as it did not have any evidence of AIUDF’s link with jihadi forces. He, however, stated that there would be no compromise on national security.