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AASU highway blockade over Nalbari incident

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 29 - Members of All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today blocked National Highways for one hour in protest against last Sunday�s incident at Ghograpar in Nalbari district. AASU activists blocked National Highways at all districts. At Guwahati, hundreds of AASU members blocked the highway at Basistha Chariali.

Police took the protestors into custody.

AASU president Dipanka Kumar Nath and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said that people of Assam will give a befitting reply to BJP and the State government for the crackdown launched on its members at Ghograpar during which some members of the student outfit were allegedly beaten up by BJP cadres inside the police station on Sunday.

They said that the State government is protecting those guilty of the incident.

Meanwhile, the BJP accused the Congress of infiltrating AASU and trying to sow discord and enmity between the saffron party and the students� organization.

Addressing a press conference here today, State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said that �hooligans from the Congress party� were responsible for the violence between BJP cadres and AASU activists which took place last Sunday at Nalbari district during the visit of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Displaying some photographs before the media, Dass said that local Congress office bearers, including Abdul Ali, Lutfur Rahman, Khanin Lahkar, Maidul Islam and Gyandeep Kalita, were present at the site where AASU activists had held protest at Ghograpar against the Chief Minister and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

�Some Congress members are trying to malign the image of AASU... Congress wants to create discord between the BJP and the AASU,� Dass said, adding that Congress members infiltrated the protest site.

He said that Congress members present on the protest site, located near the building housing the Block Elementary Office, had stockpiled stones and sticks and alleged that they were the ones who first resorted to stone pelting.

�After looking at all the facts we are forced to come to the conclusion that Congress hooligans were responsible for what happened. So we request the administration to hold a full inquiry into what took place. We also request AASU to check all the facts,� Dass said.

He said that some elements are trying to use the protests launched by AASU to spread chaos.

�Even during the Assam Bandh called by the AASU, when the members of the students� outfit were protesting peacefully, there were some rowdy elements who resorted to violence wearing helmets,� he added.

Reacting to Dass allegations, Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia said that though both Kalita and Ali �were present at the site of the incident for a while in the morning the fact is that they subsequently left the spot and accompanied me to Barpeta, where I attended a public meeting.�

�Both Kalita and Ali were not present in Nalbari during the time when the incident occurred and I can vouch for it. The allegation leveled against Kalita and Ali by the State president of the BJP is entirely false and politically motivated,� Saikia, who is also the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party, said in a letter to the Nalbari SP.

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