GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma suspects the hand of a third party in Thursday’s violence during the eviction drive at Dholpur No 3 village in Darrang district.
“The eviction drive was nearing its end and there was no problem till Wednesday. Only 60 families had to be evicted but 10,000 people swarmed to the site to put up a resistance. Where did they come from? Who brought them?” Sarma wondered.
He said this was the reason why the government ordered a judicial inquiry, to be headed by a retired Judge of the Gauhati High Court, into the incident.
He lamented that the incident occurred despite his assurance to the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) that all the landless people would be provided with six bighas of land.
“During a meeting with AAMSU leaders, I had told them that as per the government’s policy, every landless family will be allotted six bighas of land. I had also said that we cannot give land to those who own land elsewhere. They all accepted it,” Sarma said.
He said some families were occupying land measuring up to 300 bighas. He said the land of even a Shiva temple was also under encroachment. “Do people grab the land of a temple? If this continues, the land of Kamakhya temple will be encroached tomorrow. How can we accept that?” Sarma asked.
He condemned the act of the administration-engaged photographer, who had stomped on an injured and has been arrested since, but asked people to not judge the incident merely based on this short duration viral video. “I ask the Congress leaders to sit with me and watch the entire video footage. They will see how some 10,000 people came armed with sticks and spears and attacked the policemen,” Sarma said.
He rejected the demand of the Opposition to suspend the Darrang District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, who incidentally is his younger brother, saying, “They followed my orders”.
Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation from Guwahati visited Darrang and staged a protest outside the DM’s office.
In a memorandum submitted to Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, the party demanded that the judicial inquiry be headed by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court. It also demanded that the eviction drive is kept in abeyance until an appropriate rehabilitation plan is made public.
“The cameraman and the police personnel, who were stationed and took part in the whole barbaric act, should also be accorded exemplary punishment. Moreover, those deceased and those injured should be adequately compensated,” the Congress demanded.
Further, it demanded an all-party meeting along with stakeholders to strategise and plan a rehabilitation and compensation programme for the people.
“Congress party feels that the CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma despite holding a constitutional post, taking an oath to serve and protect all citizens has behaved in a biased manner by constantly giving provocative statements which have made matters worse. His statement of giving full authority to police to do encounter firing had also given license to kill and has dangers of turning Assam into a police state,” the memorandum reads.
The AAMSU and some minority-based organisations had jointly called a 12-hour bandh in Darrang where an uneasy calm prevails.
The government, which will use the land being cleared of for agricultural purposes and imparted training to some 500 indigenous youth in farming, including piggery and pisciculture for the purpose, has decided to deploy additional paramilitary forces to Darrang.