Guwahati, Jan 23: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed state DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh to register a case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after Congress leaders and workers/supporters were seen confronting the police and removing barricades installed at Khanapara to prevent the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from moving towards GS Road on Tuesday.
The chief minister, while holding Rahul Gandhi responsible for the clash between police and the Congress leaders and members, took to micro-blogging site, X, to state, “These are not part of Assamese culture. We are a peaceful state. Such “Naxalite tactics” are completely alien to our culture.”
“I have instructed the DGP, Assam Police to register a case against your leader Rahul Gandhi for provoking the crowd and use the footage you have posted on your handles as the evidence. Your unruly behaviour and violation of agreed guidelines have resulted in a massive traffic jam in Guwahati now,” Sarma said in response to a video posted on X by Congress leader Srinivas BV.
A tense situation had emerged when Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhupen Kumar Borah and other Congress leaders and supporters attempted to confront the city police and even managed to climb over the barricades in protest against the police action to bar the Yatra participants from moving towards the city.
Notably, Borah along with some party members/workers sustained injuries during the confrontation with the police amidst the commotion even as Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders could only remain witnesses to the tense situation from atop a bus.
The Yatra eventually could not enter the heart of the city and instead had to take another route through the national highway from Khanapara, Lokhra, Garchuk en route to Hajo in Kamrup district for a scheduled stoppage.
While state Congress leaders vented ire by stating that they were forced to change the Yatra route after being barred from entering Guwahati via GS Road, reportedly, police authorities had not given permission to the party to take the road show through the heart of the city, apparently citing traffic inconvenience.
It may be recalled that the Yatra has hogged headlines in regard to its route on the Assam leg of the road show. A few days back, an FIR was filed in Jorhat against the organiser of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, K.B. Byju, for reportedly diverting the permitted route resulting in a “chaotic situation.”
On Monday morning, Rahul Gandhi was prevented from visiting Bordua than, the birthplace of Vaishnavite saint Sri Sankardev under Batadrava constituency in Nagaon district despite the party claiming prior permission from the management committee of Bordua than earlier this month.