GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) staged a statewide satyagraha on Friday in protest against Monday’s ransacking of its local office in Silapathar town of Dhemaji district by a mob, mostly members of Nikhil Bharat Bengali Uddastu Samannay Samiti (NBBUSS).
The AASU categorically said that its protests would continue till the arrest of attack mastermind Subodh Biswas, who is the president of NBBUSS. He had allegedly incited a mob through his speech that led to the incident.
“Everyone knows who he (Biswas) has links with. We demand his immediate arrest, ban on NBBUSS and action against Dhemaji district magistrate and superintendent of police. Until then, we won’t allow the government to live in peace,” warned AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi on Friday.
Local dailies published photographs featuring Biswas along with Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari besides BJP’s Guwahati MP Bijoya Chakraborty indicating his association with RSS.
The incident that day occurred during a procession which was taken out at the end of a rally. The rally was organised by NBBUSS to register protests against alleged harassment of Bengalis by authorities on the suspicion that they are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The AASU, besides other protesting organisations, viewed the incident of vandalism as an attack on the Assamese by the immigrants.
The police have so far arrested 30 people but five to six others, including Biswas and NBBUSS state president Sahadev Das, are still at large. The police on Thursday announced a reward of rupees one lakh for information leading to the
arrest of Biswas.
Meanwhile, an uneasy calm prevails in Silapathar areas where curfew has been clamped. The State’s director general of police, Mukesh Sahay, who visited Silapathar along with chief secretary VK Pipersenia on Friday, said all efforts were being made to track down Biswas and other NBBUSS leaders on the run.
“We have sent reinforcements and there have been no untoward incidents since last (Thursday) night,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kolkata-based NBBUSS functionary claimed on social media that Biswas was being protected by the Army. Sahay neither confirmed nor denied it.