GUWAHATI/UDALGURI: As the orgy of ethnic violence between Bodos and Muslim immigrants spread to newer areas of northern Assam and the death toll touched 40, shoot-at-sight was ordered in riot-ravaged Udalgiri and Darrang districts and more cops deployed in neighbouring Chirang. ( Watch )
Fifteen people have died in police firing alone and nearly 200 villages singed by communal flames. More than a lakh people, from both Bodo and Muslim communities, have been forced to flee their villages.
With the ethnic violence spreading to new areas, the Centre on Monday despatched 1,400 para-military force personnel to the strife-torn state where bloody clashes between Bodos and Muslims show no sign of abating. Almost the same the number of Bodos and Muslims have been killed in the violence so far, with Bodos reporting greater losses in terms of property, according to state government sources.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi rubbished reports about the involvement of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the communal clashes and insisted that the people who are being attacked and killed are all Indian citizens. "I request TV channels to practice restraint and also request people to restrain from making wrong comments. We have set an inquiry into the whole matter," he said.
Gogoi ordered helicopter surveillance of Udalgiri on Monday, admitting that 500 houses had been set ablaze and that over 100,000 people had taken shelter in relief camps. "But the majority have been affected due to fear triggered by rumours," he said.
With the situation fast spiralling out of control, Gogoi is under fire for not acting quickly enough to stop the violence and call in the Army earlier.
"We could have changed the situation had we been authorized in time," said an Army officer deployed in Punia of Darrang district.
In Chirang's Mojabari area, a pregnant woman was among two people gunned down late on Sunday night. Two others sustained critical bullet injuries. Hundreds of Bodo youths armed with bows, arrows and spears could be seen in many places in Udalguri district, armed for self defence. NH-52 that connects the two districts still wears a deserted look.
All Assam Students Union (AASU) adviser Samujal Bhattacharrya, who toured the affected areas, rejected CM Gogoi's claim that the authorities are being even-handed in dealing with the rioters. "The authorities are completely biased. They are protecting immigrant Muslims while blaming the Bodos for the violence. If you visit relief centres, you will see a completely different picture as everywhere it was the Bodos who were the victims," he alleged.
Terming the situation as "very tense", Gogoi said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and home minister Shivraj Patil had called him to "take stock of the situation".
The CM said an additional 10 companies of security forces have been requisitioned, out of which four have arrived. Four more companies of BSF have been deployed in violence-hit areas and two more are on their way, Gogoi said.
But little seems to have changed on the ground. Throwing a challenge to those who hoisted a Pakistani flag on Saturday at Sonaripara and Bakhalpara, Bodo villagers on Monday took out huge processions with the Indian tricolour at Itabari, Haziarapara and Rowta Bagan areas of Udalgiri on Monday. "Muslims hoisted the Pakistani flag after burning three of my houses completely," said schoolteacher Jiten Boro of Bakhalpara.
On Monday morning, a delegation of Opposition parties led by AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary visited the affected areas. "What's happening here is very dangerous. If Indian are unsafe in India and have to hoist the Indian tricolour, then where will they be safe?" asked Patowary.
Udalguri SP A K Tiwari said no incident of mob violence was reported from any part of the district on Monday, except in Mazbat where police fired at miscreants who tried to burn down a village. "One person was injured in the firing," Tiwari said. Darrang deputy commissioner Dhurba Hazarika said the situation was "under control" and were "no more deaths had been reported".
State home commissioner Rajib Bora, who is camping in Mangaldoi, said they were talking to leaders of various communities to bring the situation under control.
The All Bodoland Minority Students Union (ABMSU) staged a blockade on NH-31(C) at Kashikotra for about 2 hours demanding the arrest of AASU adviser Samujal Bhattacharyya. The minority student body blamed AASU's "anti-Bangladesh drive" for the current spate of violence.
