GUWAHATI: Protests continued in Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong a day after a delegation of the Karbi Students Association (KSA) was assaulted by a group of miscreants at Kheroni in West Karbi Anglong on Thursday evening.
As a mark of protest, all shops, and business establishments downed their shutters in all major towns of the two hill districts, including Diphu, Manja, Howraghat, Baithalangso and Kheroni for the second day on Friday.
The situation has forced the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) to call for an emergency meeting to review the status of VGRs and PGRs at the conference hall of the Old Secretariat in Diphu on February 19.
The incident took place at Kheroni Chariali when some miscreants reportedly assaulted a group of activists of the Karbi Students Union (KSA), on their way from Donka. They were returning from a demonstration organized by the Autonomous Stat Demand Committee Youth Front demanding Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) evict all Hindi-speaking people from PGRs and VGRs.
“The protest was peaceful and nobody resisted them. But when they returned from Donka, some miscreants attacked their vehicle. Five activists of the KSA were injured in the attack. The vehicle in which they were travelling was also extensively damaged in the attack,” said an eyewitness.
As a repercussion, the Karbi organizations went in a violent way closing all shops and other business establishments throwing the life of the commoners out of gear. All the major towns of the two hill districts- Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong, Diphu, Howraghhat, and Baithalangso remained closed for the second day on Friday as Karbi organizations continued their protest demanding the eviction of all Hindi-speaking people from Kheroni PGR.
Assam Director General of Police (DGP), GP Singh said, “Reference scuffle at Kheroni, West Karbi Anglong District on February 15- a criminal case Kheroni PS case number 12/2024 under section 341/147/143/294/120B/153A 325/307/506/427 of IPC has been registered and 17 persons have been arrested till now.”
“We would not spare anyone breaking the law or indulging in disorderly conduct. All perpetrators of violence would be arrested and taken to task. Additional security measures, including pickets and increased patrolling, are being provided in the area to instil a sense of security amongst inhabitants of the region,” Singh added.
The protestors also blocked Howeraghat MLA Darsing Ronghang and KAAC EM (executive member) Amarsing Tisso for several hours at Kheroni on Friday. The protestors sought assurance from KAAC chief executive member (CEM) Tuliram Ronghang that the Hindi-speaking people living in Kheroni PGR would be evicted.
Darsing Ronghang assured the protestors that the government would certainly take appropriate steps to evict illegal settlers from the PGR and VGRs of Karbi Anglong.
More than 70,000 Hindi-speaking people, mostly sugarcane growers, have been living in Kheroni since the independence of the country.
