Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Thursday said that his government has not only decided to enforce the guidelines of the Supreme Court on bandh but also instructed the administration to take effective steps to realise the damages incurred by bandh.
Regretting that state was losing heavily because of this bandh culture, Mr Gogoi said, “There were 23 Assam bandh, 48 district bandhs, 65 road blockade and 13 rail blockade in the state since January this year.”
Pointing out that state was already jostling with various problems, Mr Gogoi said that bandh has slowed down the pace of development in the state.
Referring the recent bandh of Bajarang Dal and All Assam Minority Students Union a conspiracy of radical forces, Mr Gogoi said, “There are forces which does not want to see the state progressing.”
Asking the civil society to discourage bandh, Mr Gogoi said that district administrations have been asked to take steps against AAMSU leaders who resorted to violence during the bandh on Tuesday.
He, however, refused to single out AAMSU saying that Bajrang Dal was equally responsible for creating problem by calling bandh. “We will take action against both the groups,” said Mr Gogoi who met a delegation of the AAMSU leaders in the evening.
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Cops: Handlers are from Saudi Arabia
Bala Chauhan
Bengaluru, Aug. 30
A fortnight after the hate campaign, allegedly launched by Pakistan’s ISI, which triggered the mass exodus of north-easterners from Bengaluru, the Central Crime Branch of the city police cracked a huge network of sleeper cells of alleged terrorists, owing allegiance to proscribed terror outfits — LeT and HuJI.
At around 8.30 am on Wednesday, a team of CCB officials, picked up Matiur Rehman Siddiqui (26), a journalist with a prominent English news daily.
According to sources, Siddiqui had allegedly planned to take the help of another accused by the name of Akram, alias Chotu, from Bengaluru to eliminate a “pro-Hindutva” editor and columnist from popular Kannada news dailies.
The accused have been arrested under Sections 153A (promoting enmity among the people on the grounds of religion), 120b (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) and 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.
The police has allegedly seized CDs, which reportedly have some inflammatory (jihadi) material, a 7.65mm pistol with seven rounds and incriminating documents. The police claim that the handlers behind the conspiracy are reportedly from Saudi Arabia.