SHILLONG, July 25: Soon after the police arrested TMC youth leader Richard M. Marak on charges of instigating the mob to attack the chief minister’s secretariat in Tura, senior party leader Mukul M. Sangma slammed the police for working on behalf of their political bosses.
Sangma questioned the intention of the West Garo Hills SP for circulating the list of arrested persons with their party affiliations much before the DGG addressed the media on the incident. The SP should have gone deep into the problem to find out who organised the protest and who invited the people from across the Garo Hills to protest, he said.
“There are 18-year-old and 21-year-old boys on the list of the arrested. Are they on record that they are affiliated with any political party?” he told The Shillong Times.
Asking the Tura Police not to act as the mouthpiece of their political masters, Sangma said the police are an integral part of the administration of justice and should not be a part of a desperate move to change the narrative for pointing fingers at some political party.
He claimed the police arrested Richard after circulating the list in order to defend themselves.
Demanding an independent probe into the entire incident, Sangma criticised the police for allowing themselves to be used as an instrument. “Out of the thousands of people who were at the venue, the police could identify 18-19 people belonging only to the TMC and the BJP,” he added.
Asserting that the party would weigh its legal options, he said the police exercise was to instil fear in the people of the state. He also asked the police why action was not taken against the organisations that provoked some politicians and parties for not participating in the hunger strike.
Incident unforgivable: Pyngrope
TMC state president, Charles Pyngrope condemned the attack on the CMO on Monday.
“What would have happened if the CM had been injured? The attack on the CMO is unforgiveable and unacceptable,” Pyngrope told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
He said the district administration and police should have never allowed the crowd to gather outside when the meeting was under way.
“This clearly reflects the failure of the district administration and the police,” he said.
“If the DGP has claimed that the incident was planned to cause physical harm to the CM, then it was the duty of the district administration and police to strengthen the security to protect the CM at all costs,” Pyngrope said.
The TMC chief questioned the political colour added to the incident and the subsequent arrests.
“What we see is that the arrests made by the police were based on political affiliations. The arrests should have been made based on evidence,” he said.
“It is alleged that the mob was instigated by the TMC leaders. This is absolutely wrong. Do they have concrete evidence to say we have orchestrated this violence?” Pyngrope said while questioning the arrest of youth leader, Richard Marak.
“He was not even present at the place of occurrence when the violence took place. He (Richard) was attending to his wife who was discharged from hospital. Marak’s arrest is a clear attempt by the government to politicise this matter,” Pyngrope said.