05-16-2005, 09:09 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Assam Govt orders probe into exodus</b>
Sanat K Chakraborty/ Shillong
Alert to the possibility of a communal backlash in the wake of the exodus of the suspected Bangladeshi migrants from Dibrugarh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday rushed to the upper Assam district to deal with the situation.
The Assam Government has ordered a commissioner-level enquiry into the incident, official sources said on Sunday. The order was given when Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain, along with Minister of State for Planning Himanta Biswa Sarma, visited the district.
In the last few days, hundreds of migrant labourers have fled Dibrugarh town after a local organisation, Chirang Chapori Yuva Manch, asked the Assamese people not to employ or offer food and shelter to any Bangladeshis. To spread their message they had circulated handbills and sent SMSes across the commercial town.
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<b>Manch activists also asserted that their drive was not against any religious community; it was directed at the illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who the Manch alleged were involved in anti-social and all kinds of nefarious activities in Dibrugarh.</b>
At a time when the ruling Congress in Asam is seeking to retain power in the coming elections, the spectre of anti-foreigners agitation degenerating into communal riots appears to be haunting the Chief Minister. Three decades ago, a similar situation had led to the massacre of hundred of migrant Muslims and the eventual rout of the Hiteswar Saikia-led Congress Government.
Then, the anti-foreigners stir, too, had begun with a call for economic and social boycott, which subsequently turned violent, causing mass exodus of Muslim migrants and killings.
The fear is that this may happen again now. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhubaneswar Kalita told The Pioneer over the telephone from Guwahati that the party was seized with the issue and the state government is taking all possible steps to bring the situation under control.
Mr Kalita, who is likely to be re-elected as the state pradesh Congress chief, said that the Chief Minister was holding discussions with both the police and civil administration, and a full enquiry into the incident is under way.
Home Minister Rockybul Hussain, an influential leader of the minority community and Home Commissioner BK Gohain are also camping with the Chief Minister.
On Wednesday, at a Press conference, Mr Gogoi had announced that his government would set up more tribunals under the IM(DT) Act, 1983 to speed up the process of detection and deportation of suspected Bangladeshis, as well as update of the National Register of Citizens.
He had added that a separate Directorate would be set up within 15 days and the process of updating the NRC would begin from September1.
In view of the exodus of the suspected Bangladeshi migrants, the North Eastern Student Organisations (NESO), an umbrella organisation of the major students unions of the northeastern states, alerted their respective state governments against infiltration of these fleeing people into the state
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Sanat K Chakraborty/ Shillong
Alert to the possibility of a communal backlash in the wake of the exodus of the suspected Bangladeshi migrants from Dibrugarh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday rushed to the upper Assam district to deal with the situation.
The Assam Government has ordered a commissioner-level enquiry into the incident, official sources said on Sunday. The order was given when Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain, along with Minister of State for Planning Himanta Biswa Sarma, visited the district.
In the last few days, hundreds of migrant labourers have fled Dibrugarh town after a local organisation, Chirang Chapori Yuva Manch, asked the Assamese people not to employ or offer food and shelter to any Bangladeshis. To spread their message they had circulated handbills and sent SMSes across the commercial town.
Â
<b>Manch activists also asserted that their drive was not against any religious community; it was directed at the illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who the Manch alleged were involved in anti-social and all kinds of nefarious activities in Dibrugarh.</b>
At a time when the ruling Congress in Asam is seeking to retain power in the coming elections, the spectre of anti-foreigners agitation degenerating into communal riots appears to be haunting the Chief Minister. Three decades ago, a similar situation had led to the massacre of hundred of migrant Muslims and the eventual rout of the Hiteswar Saikia-led Congress Government.
Then, the anti-foreigners stir, too, had begun with a call for economic and social boycott, which subsequently turned violent, causing mass exodus of Muslim migrants and killings.
The fear is that this may happen again now. Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhubaneswar Kalita told The Pioneer over the telephone from Guwahati that the party was seized with the issue and the state government is taking all possible steps to bring the situation under control.
Mr Kalita, who is likely to be re-elected as the state pradesh Congress chief, said that the Chief Minister was holding discussions with both the police and civil administration, and a full enquiry into the incident is under way.
Home Minister Rockybul Hussain, an influential leader of the minority community and Home Commissioner BK Gohain are also camping with the Chief Minister.
On Wednesday, at a Press conference, Mr Gogoi had announced that his government would set up more tribunals under the IM(DT) Act, 1983 to speed up the process of detection and deportation of suspected Bangladeshis, as well as update of the National Register of Citizens.
He had added that a separate Directorate would be set up within 15 days and the process of updating the NRC would begin from September1.
In view of the exodus of the suspected Bangladeshi migrants, the North Eastern Student Organisations (NESO), an umbrella organisation of the major students unions of the northeastern states, alerted their respective state governments against infiltration of these fleeing people into the state
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