New Delhi: Assam police have picked up and detained six alleged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists for questioning over the sensational incident where mysterious flags with “IS NE” may be an acronym for ‘Islamic State North East’ were found in lower Assam’s Nalbari district.
According to reports published in The Wire, the black flag with the message “Join the ISIS” written in Arabic bearing some resemblance to the flag of the global terror group ISIS was found attached to a tree in an agricultural field in Koihati area on May 3.
The flags were witnessed by the morning walkers and immediately informed the Belsor police. Acting on a tip off, the police removed the flag and is probing into the incident.
Six suspected BJP district members identified as Tapan Barman, Mujammil Ali, Moon Ali, Pulak Barman, Dwipjyoti Thakuria and Sorojjyoti Baishya were apprehended for questioning for their alleged role in the incident.
A case has also been lodged against the detained members but none has been arrested so far, said the Belsor police.
Earlier, on May 2, similar six flags found on a river bank in Goalpara district raised serious concerns among locals.
The incident happened days ahead of the visit of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) headed by BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Activists accused the state BJP government of orchestrating the ISIS flag incident to divert attention of the people from JPC hearing.
It may be mentioned here that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 introduced by the BJP government, if pass, means that illegal
migrants who belong to six communities viz. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – but not Muslims – from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are eligible for citizenship of India after six years of entering the country.