Skip to content Skip to navigation

Violence revisits Assam

By Rituparna Goswami Pande |

Violence has revisited Assam with a vengeance. After a comparatively peaceful period once again Assam bleeds. The unfortunate incident of group clash jolted Assam out of its reverie and has triggered a kind of a chain reaction of bandhs, blasts and increased the probability of ethnic clashes. Ethnic clashes were an alien occurrence in Assam till black Saturday dawned upon the people of Assam on the fateful day of November 24.

An allegedly peaceful rally of Adivasi Students’ Association demanding the status of Scheduled Tribes status of the Adivasi community turned into a gory battleground for local residents of Beltola area of Guwahati and the rallyists. Hundreds of vehicles, shops and business establishments and residential buildings were damaged. Officially at least one person has been reported killed while around 200 people injured in the clashes. The death toll may go up as 10 people were reported to be in a critical state.

An indefinite curfew was clamped from Basistha Tiniali to Dispur Last gate on Saturday and an eerie silence has taken over the areas as people are unable to come to terms with the incident.

The failure of the administration to bring the situation under control has led the political parties to condemn the government’s failure to maintain law and order in the state.
Allegedly, prompt action on the part of the administration could have averted the violent eruption. Another major factor was how some of the adivasi students were allowed to carry bows and arrows in the rally?

However the state government has taken measures to curb further disturbances in the state by ordering the District Commissioners and Superintendents of Police to take adequate steps to prevent the spread of violence in other parts of the state. A 36 hour Assam Bandh had been called today by the All Adivasi Student’s Association in protest of the group clash on Saturday.

Meanwhile two blasts rocked Guwahati last evening near a glass factory in Fatasil Ambari killing one person and another blast occurred in Tinsukia’s Manik Hazarika Road killing two people. The police suspect the ULFA behind the blasts.

Taking advantage of the disturbed situation the ULFA has renewed its violent streak in Assam. Today Assam is in a sensitive spot with emotions of the locals and the adivasis running high, hence it’s the government’s turn now to douse the fires of hatred ignited by people with vested interests and foil the ulterior motives of the enemies of the state. And it’s the peoples’ turn to show their solidarity by maintaining peace and controlling the situation which has already gone out of hand.

Photo: Security personnel having a strong vigil on 26-11-07 in the Beltola-Survey area, Guwahati, after the mass violence on 24th November.

Comments

CHARLIE's picture

Submitted by CHARLIE on Tue, 27/11/2007 - 02:44
ITS REALLY SHOCKING INCIDENT HAPPENED TO OUR SOCIETY FOR THE FIRST TIME HAPPENED IN GHY,WHO EVER DONE THIS THEY SHOULD REALISED THAT OUR SOCIETY MENTALLY IS NOT THAT WAY THEY HAVE DONE TO ADIVASI WOMEN , U REPORTHING OF ARTICLE IS EXCELLENT
Smriti Rekha Bharali Saikia's picture

Submitted by Smriti Rekha Bh... on Tue, 27/11/2007 - 08:48
Its really sad that people of Assam is still busy in violence. They should wake up and take a step for futher development of the education of children and other functional activities. We love our life so please stop violence and make our Assam a beautiful land with full of love, affection and faith. Zindagi jeene ka naam hein na ki marne and maarne ka. Jai Hind. M---- your article is superb.
bonbon's picture

Submitted by bonbon on Tue, 27/11/2007 - 12:27
It's such a sad feeling that a peaceful place like axom has overnight turned so ghastly. the need of the hour is to be more tolerant and peaceloving. No amount of bloodshed can bring peace.You are doing a marveloys job by bringing out the correct happenings . It is said that the pen is mightier then the sword keep it up.
jaay's picture

Submitted by jaay on Thu, 13/12/2007 - 02:46
Where will it end, is all we are interested in? It’s now been a long time and probably the issues for which the fight / differences cropped have long been lost so now is the right to sit down and think for a better future for the next generation. Let us not bring them into the fear that we have lived through, give secure and bright future. Business of bombing is getting out of hand. People should become more aware and cautious in the market place and should report any suspicious materials. Can the people be part of the society who have the heart of placing bomb right in the market and kill fellow citizens, I don’t know, at least I can say that they are NOT fighting for a cause or some cause. We must assert as to what we want, this is our place and we want it to be safe, even if it means that I have to revolt against my friend / relative , we have to do it in order to make our city a city of bliss. Nice article.

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

NGO pleas to companies to switch to paper

15 Sep 2019 - 1:57pm | Shajid Khan
The Udalguri district chapter of Aranya Suraksha Samiti, Asom made a fervent appeal to all the plastic and polythene bags manufacturing companies to convert their manufacturing machines into paper...

AGP leader Gunja Hatimuria no more

10 Feb 2012 - 5:24pm | editor
The founder member of Nazira district committee of Asom Gana Parishad,Gunjo Hatimuria is dead due to kidney failure at his 73 years. He was a resident of Dulakakhoria gaon panchayat of Gelekey. Late...

Army set up library

16 Feb 2018 - 10:48am | Akshaya Pranab Kalita
NAMRUP: Army’s DAO division camp based at Jaipur in Dibrugarh district opened a library in Tipling Gaon on Thursday. Set up at a local LP school under the operation Sadbhavana, the initiative...

Explosives Recovered at Changsari

29 Aug 2009 - 12:12am | Bikash Das
The troops of Red Horns of Division of the Indian Army deployed at Changsari under Kamalpur PS in Kamrup district has recovered today 70 Kgs of explosives from Changsari. Acting on specific...

Other Contents by Author

Media in Chains in Manipur

The media which is a mirror of society has been broken into shards by the the guns of millitants in Manipur. The newspapers were missing from their usual stands in Manipur following threats and counter threats by rival factions of rebel organisation PREPAK over publication of a statement. According to the All Manipur Working Journalists Union the media was torn over a decision to publish a statement which a faction of the PREPAK wanted to publish while another opposed and threatened to react violently if published.The journalists fearing for their lives sought safety in the Imphal Press clubs instead of their homes for fear of persecution. But this is not unusual in manipur as earlier also...

Celebrating Wildlife Week

We are celebrating Wild life week but as we read this hundreds of animals are falling prey to the poacher’s gun, succumbing to the onslaught of floods or becoming senseless victims of man’s cruelty. Destruction of natural habitat is a serious threat to wild life which deprives these wild animals of food shelter and water. Their quest for survival brings them in the proximity of human dwellings which in turn puts them in danger of being pelted with stones, bludgeoned by machetes or simply shot at point blank range. Indians are not abreast with the techniques of handling wild animals which stray into human habitation. Rough handling and terror of being attacked leads people to...

Remembering the Mahatama

“I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of intoxicating drinks ad drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men. We shall be at peace with all the rest of the world. This is the India of my dreams”. Mohandas Karam Chand GandhiSadly we Indians have failed to live up to the India of the mahatma’s dreams. For India is still afflicted by the maladies that the Mahatma...

NE Women Writer’s Conference held

The Assam Lekhika Santha, a forum of women writers from the state organized a two day North East women writer’s meet on September 30 and October 1 in Shilpa Gram Panjabari Guwahati. The aim of the meet is to promote integrity among the north-eastern states and to provide a common platform to the women writers from the region.The eminent writers who were to grace the occasion are Mamang Dai and Nanni Dai from Arunachal Pradesh, Dr Limattula and Dr Temsula Ao from Nagaland, Dr Shanti Kshetri from Sikkim, Dr Shilaramani Changkham from Manipur, Karabi Deb Barman from Tripura, P Kolongungi from Mizoram, Patricia Mukhim and Al Varin Dokher from Meghalaya and other noted writers from the...

Charged Emotions

The paeans had not yet subsided regarding the communal and ethnic unity and harmony that the Indian Idol finalists had brought about in the states of Sikim and Meghalaya and the northeast for that matter that pandemonium broke loose. The fans of newly crowned Indian Idol Prashant Tamang erupted in fury at jibes made on their idol by a Radio Jockey of a Delhi based FM station. The 2000 odd fans of Tamang undertook a procession in Siliguri to submit a memorandum to the local SDO but the march turned into mayhem as they indulged into a controversy regarding the passage of an ambulance carrying a patient. The tiff led to widespread arson and triggered a chain of violence which brought in the...

Duped by Dopes- An alarming trend

Lucky Mahanta was a handsome lad in his school days, always ahead of his class academically and a bright boy indeed. After passing his Higher Secondary from a reputed boy’s school in Assam he went on to pursue higher studies in the capital city of India, a trend that is an in thing these days and gaining popularity by the day. But soon Lucky’s disposition changed his grades fell and so did his friend circle. He started hanging out with shady characters and formed a group of his own. Slowly he started borrowing money from his college mates and sometimes even begged for a couple of bucks. He sold his car and other expensive belongings to make ends meet. Vicky is now a mere shadow...

Reality behind reality shows

Indian television is experiencing a new revolution in the form of reality shows. There is a deluge of reality shows in each and every channel that you turn on. MTV Roadies, Popstar ki khoj in Channel V, Big Boss a rip off from the British show called Big Brother of Shilpa Shetty fame, and the plethora of singing contests from Voice of India in Star Plus, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, challenge in ZEE to the Indian Idol in Sony reality shows have captured the viewers imagination. The northeast has not yet forgotten the frenzy created by Debojit Saha’s victory in one such contest that catapulted the struggling singer into a house hold name overnight and now the northeast people are in crossroads once...

The price is not right

The rising price of onions is bringing real tears in the eyes of the consumers. The onion vendors are pricing them at exorbitant prices forcing the public to opt for an onion free diet. Onions are an inherent part of Indian cuisine hence such a situation greatly distresses the common people.The price rise is a direct outcome of the delay of trains bringing consignments of onions coming from outside the state.The All Guwahati Potato Onion Merchants’ Association (AGPOMA) has allegedly approached Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to look into the matter. The late arrival has also led to the damage of thousands of these products further escalating the prices of these perishables....

Irom Sharmila: Lone Crusader

Manipur’s human rights activist Irom Sharmila who has been on a fast-unto-death since November, 2000 seeking the repressive Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act repealed. She opposes the Act that gives draconian powers to the security forces and has repeatedly been used with brazen brutality in the Northeast. For five years, she has been imprisoned and force-fed by the State for her ‘crime’. Irom Sharmila’s lone battle against the government is a proof of the grit and determination of a woman scorned.Popularly known as the iron lady of Manipur Irom Sharmila has approached UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for help by handing over a letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi to Sandeep...

A ban on Bandhs

A bandh is the choicest means of protest for all political parties or organizations. We have seen umpteenth number of bandhs for hundreds of reasons such as killings, price rise, atrocities etc. But have these bandhs ever benefited the cause they are called for? Instead these bandhs reverse the wheel of an already slow progress that Assam is involved in. School children and college going youngsters are unable to complete their syllabi on time which later has a bad effect on their future results, ailing people suffer immensely for non availability of medical attention, daily wage earners are the worst sufferers who are unable to feed the hungry mouths at home. In such a predicament do these...