ASSAM RIOTS 53 DEAD 4 Lakh DISPLACED

The way the violence spread far and wide in no time, the administration was left groping for ways to contain it at least for the first couple of days and thousands of innocent panic-stricken men, women, and children from both the communities were driven out of their homes to take shelter in 270 relief camps spread over all the four districts.

The current flare-up which is yet to be doused completely has taken a heavy toll of at least 53 lives including six killed in conflict with security forces, displaced over 3.92 lakhs people from both the communities whose villages have been burnt down by rioters

The situation is sensitive in BTC areas where Bodos and the religious minority community hardly see eye-to-eye because of the perennial friction over land rights, political rights and economic rights, only a spark is required to trigger a raging inferno. This time that spark was stoked on July 19th when unidentified miscreants fired upon and seriously injured two youth leaders from the minority community at Magurmari under Kokrajhar police station. Founder president of All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU), Mohibul Islam and a  former leader of All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), Abdul Siddique Sheikh were seriously injured   in the attack.

In a retaliatory attack, four former militants of the now disbanded Bodoland Liberation Tiger (BLT) –Pradip Bodo (32), Jonson Bodo (36), Nip Goyari (25) and Jamin Goyari (24) – were lynched by a mob at Joypur under Kokrajhar police station on the night of July 20th.
 
These two incidents sparked a series of attacks and counter - attacks in several parts of  Kokrajhar  district in the wee hours of July 21st and the situation spun out of control of the administration handicapped by a lack of adequate number of security forces at its disposal. Houses continued to be burnt and fleeing people poured into relief camps.

Train services between Assam and the rest of the country were totally disrupted for two days from the 24th of July as mobs attacked trains in various parts of the violence affected areas. A total of 10 trains were cancelled while 31 incoming and outgoing trains were rescheduled on those two days affecting over 20,000 passengers. Seventeen trains remained stranded in violence - hit areas. The New Delhi - Guwahati Rajdhani Express was attacked by miscreants near Gossaigaon at the Assam - West Bengal border damaging four coaches. The train had to be turned back and taken to Coochbehar Railway station in West Bengal. A skeletal railway service could be resumed only in the afternoon of July 26th after more forces were dispatched to the violence hit areas to provide security.

In addition to deployment of at least 44 companies of central paramilitary forces, 13 columns of the army (1300 personnel) were deployed in the three affected districts on the morning of the 25th of July to contain the violence that had spread far and wide. An additional seven columns of the army were deployed in Baksa district on July 27th to arrest the spread of the violence.

ASSAM RIOTS 53 DEAD 4 Lakh DISPLACED

The way the violence spread far and wide in no time, the administration was left groping for ways to contain it at least for the first couple of days and thousands of innocent panic-stricken men, women, and children from both the communities were driven out of their homes to take shelter in 270 relief camps spread over all the four districts.

The current flare-up which is yet to be doused completely has taken a heavy toll of at least 53 lives including six killed in conflict with security forces, displaced over 3.92 lakhs people from both the communities whose villages have been burnt down by rioters

The situation is sensitive in BTC areas where Bodos and the religious minority community hardly see eye-to-eye because of the perennial friction over land rights, political rights and economic rights, only a spark is required to trigger a raging inferno. This time that spark was stoked on July 19th when unidentified miscreants fired upon and seriously injured two youth leaders from the minority community at Magurmari under Kokrajhar police station. Founder president of All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union (ABMSU), Mohibul Islam and a  former leader of All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), Abdul Siddique Sheikh were seriously injured   in the attack.

In a retaliatory attack, four former militants of the now disbanded Bodoland Liberation Tiger (BLT) –Pradip Bodo (32), Jonson Bodo (36), Nip Goyari (25) and Jamin Goyari (24) – were lynched by a mob at Joypur under Kokrajhar police station on the night of July 20th.
 
These two incidents sparked a series of attacks and counter - attacks in several parts of  Kokrajhar  district in the wee hours of July 21st and the situation spun out of control of the administration handicapped by a lack of adequate number of security forces at its disposal. Houses continued to be burnt and fleeing people poured into relief camps.

Train services between Assam and the rest of the country were totally disrupted for two days from the 24th of July as mobs attacked trains in various parts of the violence affected areas. A total of 10 trains were cancelled while 31 incoming and outgoing trains were rescheduled on those two days affecting over 20,000 passengers. Seventeen trains remained stranded in violence - hit areas. The New Delhi - Guwahati Rajdhani Express was attacked by miscreants near Gossaigaon at the Assam - West Bengal border damaging four coaches. The train had to be turned back and taken to Coochbehar Railway station in West Bengal. A skeletal railway service could be resumed only in the afternoon of July 26th after more forces were dispatched to the violence hit areas to provide security.

In addition to deployment of at least 44 companies of central paramilitary forces, 13 columns of the army (1300 personnel) were deployed in the three affected districts on the morning of the 25th of July to contain the violence that had spread far and wide. An additional seven columns of the army were deployed in Baksa district on July 27th to arrest the spread of the violence.

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However, the deployment of the army should have happened much earlier. Union Joint Secretary, Home, (North east affairs) Sambhu Singh commented that had there been early deployment of the army on the day the violence broke out, the situation would have been much better now.  This is a fact which was admitted by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi too. Gogoi said he had called up the Defence Minister and the Army General on July 21st requesting deployment of the army in the riot - hit areas, but this deployment took time.
 
Gogoi, however, did not want to blame anyone for the inadequate forces during the initial days of violence. He said it took time to mobilize forces from other states and did not want to blame anyone for it even as his government and administration in Kokrajhar district had been criticized severely by opposition parties as well as a section of the riot - hit populace for the failure to provide security to control the violence as soon as it had broken out.

Certain quarters including the BJP pointed accusing fingers at ‘elements coming from Bangladesh through the Dhubri border’ to fan the clashes between the Bodos and religious minority community. But chief minister Tarun Gogoi shot this down as a baseless allegation. Gogoi denied to accept that it was a communal clash and maintained that it was just a spell of violence that had been designed and unleashed by miscreants with vested interests. “It is not a communal clash. The BJP is out to give a communal colour to it. It is a clash triggered by miscreants and both the Bodo and religious minority communities have been affected. Those affected Muslims are Indian citizens, not illegal migrants from Bangladesh as alleged by the BJP. The BJP’s design to communalise the clashes will not succeed,” Gogoi said.

“There are conflicts of economic interests among various communities. Overall development of all the communities is the panacea for  conflict resolution. All the communities have different grievances in Assam. It is uphill task to resolve conflicts,” Gogoi said.

PM’S  LARGESSE

As the nation’s attention was focused on the orgy of violence in the BTC areas of Assam as well as the failure of the governments both at Dispur and New Delhi to take prompt and bold steps to contain the flare-up, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, came to Kokrajhar to ‘share the pain and sorrow’ of the violence - displaced from both the communities lodged in two separate relief camps. He promised all possible help from the Centre to ensure normalcy returns to the life of the riot-hit through adequate rehabilitation measures. Dr. Singh also said there would be a probe to find out and punish anyone found guilty of instigating the violence.

In an attempt to apply balm on the emotional and physical scars caused by the spell of violence, Dr. Singh announced a `300 crore immediate financial assistance to the Assam government to facilitate proper relief and rehabilitation of the violence - displaced people.

The Rs 300 crore financial assistance announced by the PM comprises of Rs 100 crore immediate assistance to the Assam government for facilitating relief and rehabilitation of the violence-affected people; another Rs 100 crore special Plan assistance to Assam for the development of the violence affected people and areas and `100 crore to be provided under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) scheme to facilitate rehabilitation of the violence displaced people.

The PM further announced Rs two lakh ex-gratia compensation against each of the deaths due to the violence, Rs 50,000 to each of those seriously injured in the violence. Those whose houses have been completely damaged will get Rs 30,000 per family while Rs 20,000 will be given per family to those whose houses were partially damaged. He said this assistance would be provided from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.

“At this juncture, I can say that the Centre will work closely with the Government of Assam to provide adequate security to help the violence - displaced people to go back home and lead a proper life in a peaceful atmosphere,” Dr. Singh said in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Given the undercurrent of tension that prevails between Bodos and the religious minority community in BTC area, a long - term coordination is required between the state and the Centre to keep the area calm, peaceful and prosperous. Otherwise such spells of violence will continue to recur even before the scars left by the previous one get time to heal.