Kolkata: All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) to observe black day on Saturday and Sunday throughout West Bengal over their delegation’s detention at Assam’s Silchar airport.
TMC secretary general and West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said that the party will observe ‘Black Day’ wearing black badges in every block and district of the state on August 4-5 to protest against the heckling of their party leaders in Silchar.
“Our slogan will be, ‘We don’t need this monstrous government anymore’,” Chatterjee said.
A delegation of the AITMC was stopped at the Silchar Airport on Thursday.
The delegation comprising MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur, minister Firhad Hakim and MLA Mahua Moitra, was scheduled to visit Silchar on the of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft.
However, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier on Friday clarified that the AITMC delegation had been asked to return from Silchar airport but they got into an altercation in which two women security personnel were also hurt.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath explained the situation that caused a ruckus at the Silchar airport yesterday.
He said, “On August 2, the TMC delegation was received at Silchar airport with full protocol. They were asked to go back but the delegation engaged in an argument during which two women security personnel were injured. Few passengers were also inconvenienced.”
The police arrested the delegation members under Section 151 of CrPc, and were made to halt the night at a guest house near the airport. The delegation returned to Delhi today.
Rajnath informed, “On August 3, the delegation members flew back to Delhi from Silchar. The situation was handled in a way that law and order can be maintained.”
Earlier today, the TMC delegation claimed that they were allegedly manhandled and physically assaulted by the authorities at the airport.
Speaking on the same, AITMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray told the media that the Assam state administration prevented the delegation from leaving the airport.
On Thursday, Mahua Moitra allegedly assaulted a lady constable who restrained her at the Silchar airport.
In a video accessed by ANI, Moitra could be seen physically assaulting a female constable, even as the latter pleaded the lawmaker with folded hands to calm down. The video also showed some of the other party workers sitting on the conveyor belt in the airport as a mark of protest.
Director General of Assam Police, Kuladhar Saikia later said legal action would be pursued against the eight-member delegation of TMC.
The draft list announced on July 30, left out nearly 40 lakh people in Assam, incorporating names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants. The first draft was published on December 31, 2017, and names of 1.9 crores of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated.
The NRC draft features the names, addresses and photographs of all Indian citizens, who have been residing in the northeastern state before March 25, 1971. (ANI)