Super Emergency, Says Trinamool as Delegation Visiting Assam Over NRC Issue is Detained at Silchar Airport
As soon the delegation landed at the airport, the administration stopped them from exiting the airport. A video of the incident showed that the team was manhandled.
New Delhi: A six-member Trinamool Congress delegation, including a women MLA, was detained at Silchar Airport by Assam police on Thursday. The team arrived at the city to attend a public convention on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final draft.
The delegation comprising Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh and Mamata Thakur was led by West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim. As soon they landed at the airport, the administration stopped them from exiting the airport.
The TMC MPS alleged that they were also beaten up. “Our delegation was detained at the airport and was roughed up. They were also hit by the police,” TMC MP Derek O’Brien said. A video of the incident also showed that the team was manhandled.
Saying that it was their democratic right to meet people in Assam, O’Brien equated the police action to “super emergency”
The TMC members were supposed attend a public convention around 3:30 pm organized by the local citizen’s forum in Silchar. “We will try and understand on what grounds people were left out from NRC’s final draft,” a party member said.
BJP’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh, however, blamed the TMC members for the incident, saying they had no business going to Assam.
“They are the problem. Who asked the TMC MPs to go there? No one else has gone there. They have gone there to spread tension and create trouble. They should come back.”
“Our MPs were obstructed in a similar way when we tried to visit any trouble-hit area in Bengal. TMC leaders have no business in Assam.”
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, “If they try to create unrest in Assam, the administration will take action. They should be forced out of the state.”
The team was also scheduled to go to Guwahati to meet intellectuals and prominent residents of Assam on Friday, following which they were to arrive in Delhi by evening.
On Wednesday, TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held talks in Delhi with opposition leaders over the strategy on taking on the BJP.
