Guwahati: Police fired rubber bullets in the air, burst tear gas shells and detained BJP leaders and workers on Wednesday as they tried to march to Assam Assembly here today for staging a gherao to protest against the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government.
Police claimed action was taken to prevent the march as permission was not granted by the administration to BJP to carry out the programme. Scores of slogan shouting BJP workers besides party MLAs and MPs, carrying placards and party flags, started their march from Khanapara area in the city, days after the five party MLAs and seven from Congress, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were suspended by Assembly Speaker for the five-day Winter session for disobeying his ruling. The MLAs had protested on the law and order situation in the state leadding to noisy scenes. As the demonstrators today broke police barricades to move forward, police burst tear gas shells and fired rubber bullets in the air to stop their march, the officials said.
BJP in-charge of Assam Prabhari Mahendra Singh told reporters that “an Emergency-like situation has been created by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government. The police is acting as an agent of the Congress to prevent a democratic movement”.
Singh was speaking while he was being detained along with other BJP leaders and workers.
Bijoya Chakraborty said, “We are peacefully going to the Assembly for our ‘Dispur Gherao’ programme to protest against the corrupt and anti-democratic Tarun Gogoi government. Gogoi has unleashed violence on us. We’ll not tolerate if any one of us is injured”.
Himanata Biswa Sarma was leading the march as protesters broke barricades.
“We have undertaken this programme to save democracy and protest against Tarun Gogoi’s corrupt government. Youth Congress activists are allowed to come up to the Assembly premises, but BJP supporters are not even allowed to enter the city,” Sarma said. (PTI)
