Hyderabad: On behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat addressed a letter to Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam criticising the government’s handling of the violence in Darrang district. She further argued that the only reason the police attack took place was owing to the fact that the residents assaulted in Dhalpur were Muslims.
A delegation of CPI (M) comprising of Brinda Karat, Suprakash Talukdar (Central Committee member), Monoranjan Talukdar (MLA), and other leaders of the state looked into the violence in the Dhalapur area of the Darrang district where for the past few weeks, people accused of being “illegal immigrants” have been killed by the police.
Karat remarked that the delegation in question met with scores of evicted people, some of whom were peasants who have tilled the land for the last fifty years. Criticising the police force for gunning down innocent individuals who if asked, would have been able to furnish proof of occupation and ownership of land as well. She further accused the government of not conducting any survey to verify or reject whether the people in question were actually immigrants or not.
Karat accused the government of indulging in land grabbing and criticised the same for suspending constitutional and legal values within the limits of Assam. She further took grave issue with the state photographer who repeatedly jumped on the already injured body of a victim.
The Polit Bureau member bemoaned the lack of any rehabilitation plan constituted by the state government and said that since September 23 no official visited the victims of the firing. She also criticised the presence of several police squads in the area who were responsible for intimidated the already suffering victims, as well as the government, deployed tractors that were illegally ploughing the land.
The letter concluded with a demand to withdraw police troops, offer adequate compensation to the victims and allow the victims to return to their lands and homes.