Massive protest near Indo-Bangla border in Assam against violence in Bangladesh
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma supported the protest and said that they are concerned about the religious minorities in Bangladesh
Nearly 40,000 people gathered near the India-Bangladesh international border in Assam's Sribhumi district on Sunday to stage a massive protest against the alleged attacks on minority Hindus and insult of the Indian flag in Bangladesh.
They also demanded immediate release of Chinmoy Krishna Das of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) allowing the democratic protest there.
The protest called ‘Chalo Bangladesh’ (let us go to Bangladesh) called by Sanatani Aikya Mancha started near Sutarkandi area at around 11.30pm and continued till 3pm.
Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) created barricades. At one point some protesters attempted to break the barricades which resulted in a lathi charge on the protesters.
Advocate Santanu Naik, who led the protest, said that several protesters sustained injuries in the lathi charge and two persons, including a lady broke bone.
"A youth broke his leg while the lady broke her fingers during the lathi charge. They were sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH). The other injured persons received treatment in local hospitals in Sribhumi," he said.
Superintendent of police of Sribhumi district, Partha Pratim Das said that the organisers informed them about the protest, and it was supposed to be a peaceful one.
"Considering the number of protesters, we deployed 300 police personnel in that area and two lines of defence were created by police and the BSF. However, at one point some protesters tried to break the barricades and we had to use force to control the situation," he said.
A senior official of the BSF said that they stopped the protesters 500 metres from the fencing and a company of additional forces were deployed for the day.
"We stopped the protesters near Sutarkandi, which is a land border, but some people tried to cross the river border too. We managed to stop them, and they returned later," he told HT on Sunday evening.
Sanatani Aikya Mancha started protesting across the Barak Valley part of Assam after the arrest of Iskcon's Chinmay Maharaj and on Saturday they wrote letters to the United Nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladesh High Commission in Guwahati and the Governor of Assam.
Santanu Naik said that they highlighted the issue of insulting the Indian flag in Bangladesh which, according to them, may trigger more protests in the country.
"The way students in Bangladesh are insulting the Indian flag and sharing disturbing pictures on social media, it may trigger bigger protests in our country. Insulting a country's flag is an international issue and UN should intervene immediately," he said.
He further said, "Only issuing some statements will not help, our government needs to take better steps. We also wrote a letter to Md Yunus and asked him not to forget that Indian soldiers gave lives for the independence of Bangladesh."
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday supported the protest and said that they are concerned about the religious minorities in Bangladesh.
"What is happening in Bangladesh, is sad and the Government of India has already reacted to it. I believe that the Prime Minister is taking adequate diplomatic steps to ensure the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh. Communication is being maintained with the authorities in Bangladesh from our side. However, we are worried about the recent developments in the neighbouring country," he said.