Tura, July 5: Protest marches were taken out here condemning the statement of the AITC general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, who called the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) a virus while the Trinamool being the vaccine, took place here in West Garo Hills and Mahendraganj in South West Garo Hills (SWGH) took place today, Jul 5.
In Tura, the protestors marched through most of the town demanding an apology from Banerjee while adding as an outsider he is not welcome into the state. The protesters further alleged that calling the people of Meghalaya as ‘virus’ was hurtful to them and an apology was due to them.
Interestingly, in an effort to get their message across, some placards were written in Bengali in the town of Tura. The protest marches ended at the Tura Bazaar this afternoon.
Further Banerjee’s statement of local governance wherein different parts of the state being ruled by the different tribes also did not go well with the protesters who claimed the statement sought to divide the people on the lines of tribes.
“We are unhappy that he is trying to divide us when we have been living here as one since ages. Calling us a virus is just not done. We will not accept anything less than an apology from him,” said one of the protestors in Mahendraganj.