Guwahati: A day after a public protest turned violent and led to the death of one Congress worker in Assam's capital town Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident that led to the death of the Congress worker and said that no demonstrations will be permitted near Raj Bhavan henceforth.
"The institution of the Governor stands above partisan politics. Yesterday, Congress party leaders attempted to forcibly enter Raj Bhavan by breaching police barricades and causing chaos in the vicinity.
The police will register an FIR and conduct a thorough inquiry into the incident, including a review of video recordings. Henceforth, no demonstrations will be permitted near Raj Bhavan. A designated area has already been allocated for protests and demonstrations," said the Assam Chief Minister on his X handle on Thursday.
A Congress worker died on Wednesday when police fired tear gas shells at protesters during a 'Raj Bhavan Chalo' rally organised by the Congress. The deceased Mridul Islam was the secretary of the Legal Cell of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC).
Hailing from Boko in Assam, Islam was also an advocate by profession. He collapsed during the shelling and later died at a hospital in Guwahati. Several journalists and camera persons covering the programme were also injured during the police action and were admitted to hospital.
It may be mentioned here the opposition Congress had organised the Rajbhavan Chalo rally across the country yesterday in protest against the installation of smart meters, the Central government's refusal to discuss the Manipur crisis in parliament and the allegations of corruption against the Adani Group, and the ‘one nation, one election’ Bill in Parliament.
The Congress in Assam has, however, accused the BJP of murdering the Congress worker Islam and said that he was the first martyr of the protest against the BJP in Assam.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia said that the Ministry of Home Affairs have long back issued a Standard Operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the dispersal of crowds during any demonstration or protest.
"While the SOP has mentioned several steps to deal with protest demonstrations and listed use of excessive force as the last resort, the police in Assam had used excessive force at the beginning of the protest itself," said Saikia while terming the police atrocities as a new move by the government to gag any democratic protest or voice of dissent.
It may be recalled that the members of the Guwahati Press Club also staged a protest in front of the Club on Thursday to protest against the atrocities by police which led to the injury of several journalists during the tear gas shelling yesterday.
