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Uproar over baton charge on relief camp inmates

Sushanta Talukdar

Opposition demand for adjournment motion turned down

GUWAHATI: The Assam Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Monday's incident of baton charge on inmates of Muslim refugee camps in Bongaigaon district.

The Opposition and treasury benches hurled accusations at each other, leading to the adjournment of the House during zero hour.

Media reports

As soon as question hour was over, members of the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) drew Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai's attention to media reports on the incident and sought a discussion.

More than 100 displaced persons were injured when the police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel resorted to a baton charge to disperse over 3,000 protesters when they tried to march to Dispur to press for immediate rehabilitation.

Counter-allegations

When the Speaker turned down their demand, citing rules and procedure, the AUDF members rushed to the well of the House. Members from the treasury benches followed and levelled counter-allegations. Soon members of the Asom Gana Parishad, the BJP, the CPI and the CPI(M) joined the AUDF MLAs and raised slogans.

The Speaker tried to pacify the members and urged them to go back to their seats. But nothing could be heard in the uproar, prompting him to adjourn the House. When the House met again after 10 minutes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bharat Narah said the Government would come up with a statement on Wednesday.

Talks offer

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced that the Government would hold talks with the displaced persons to arrive at a one-time settlement. He said the Government was contemplating offering them money due to dearth of land for rehabilitation. The inmates were paid a grant of Rs. 10,000 twice in the past, but a large number of them did not return to their homes.

The ruling Congress accused the AUDF of instigating the camp inmates to delay the rehabilitation plan.

Ministers Rockybul Hussain and Nazrul Islam told reporters that the Government wanted to find a solution to the problem, the Opposition wanted to keep the issue alive. They said the one-settlement plan would be initiated soon not only for the Muslim inmates but also for other displaced persons.

Rehabilitation grant

AUDF president Badaruddin Ajmal demanded that the rehabilitation grant of Rs.5 lakh be paid to each family. Citing official figures, Mr. Ajmal said about 13,000 families, including Muslims, adivasis and Bodos, had been living in makeshift relief camps for the last 14 years.

The camps were set up in the aftermath of clashes between the Bodos and Muslims in 1993 and a series of ethnic clashes between the Bodos and adivasis in 1996 and 1998 in two lower Assam districts of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon.

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Uproar over baton charge on relief camp inmates

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