A section of intellectuals, close to West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, yesterday condemned the killing of five Bengali Hindus in Assam’s Tinsukia district on November 1.
They staged a protest in Kolkata, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of creating unrest in the north-eastern state.
“The terror outfit that was initially suspected has also denied involvement. Who then is responsible for the brutal killings,” painter Subhaprasanna said.
The intellectuals also slammed the federal government’s role in the rollout of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), which has allegedly caused tension in the state.
“It is unbelievable that any human being can make unarmed people stand and shoot them ruthlessly. There was a cordial existence of Bengalis and Assamese in Assam but since the rollout of the draft NRC, peace has been disrupted,” economist Abhirup Sarkar said.
He said that the ruthless killings were a reflection of that unrest.
A vicious environment of “aggressive regionalism” is prevailing in the country, said a Trinamool Congress delegation that visited Dhala in Tinsukia district yesterday.
The four-member delegation comprising Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien, Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque and MLA Mahua Moitra visited the bereaved families yesterday.
“The situation is really bad. In Gujarat, Biharis are expelled and in Assam Bengalis are targeted like this,” O’Brien told reporters in Dhala.
The TMC delegation also gave some monetary help to the bereaved families.
“No amount of compensation will fill the void which the families of the deceased has suffered,” he said.
Mahua Moitra said that since 2014, a vicious atmosphere has been created in the country by subversive forces who have been trying to divide the people in the name of community and religion.
She was alluding to the coming to power of BJP’s Narendra Modi at the Centre.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that some vested interests were hell bent on creating a rift in the state.