SHILLONG: The unabated disquiet in Ichamati-Bholaganj area has reached the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s door step.
Ex-MP from Assam Susmita Dev has drawn Modi’s attention to the “harassment” being meted out to the non-tribal residents of the area since the violent clash of February 20 last in which a KSU activist lost his life.
In a letter to Modi on Thursday, Dev, who was elected to Lok Sabha from Silchar on a Congress ticket, alleged that “innocent and unrelated to the violence (of February 20) are being continuously harassed on the pretext that they were illegal migrants which is entirely incorrect”.
She told the PM that these non-tribals had lived there for “several generations”. Dev further said, “I do not endorse any kind of violence” but the February 20 incident has given rise to simmering tension.
The letter stated that she had written to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on March 3 last urging him to take steps to ensure peace and tranquility, but it has gone unheard. Since NPP is a partner of NDA it was the PM’s “duty” to put an end to “discrimination” and “harassment”, she said.
In a separate letter to the CM, the “Citizens’ Rights Protection Committee” of Assam has decried the “threat” issued to the non-tribals of Ichamati to “vacate” the land under their occupation.
The Committee also made a mention of the harassment allegedly meted out to residents of Assam while being on transit via Meghalaya. The letter pointed out that thousands of tribals from Meghalaya were residing in the Barak Valley but never ever they were disturbed by the non-tribals there.
It therefore urged the chief minister to form peace committees in the disturbed areas and conduct an “impartial” probe.
