SUALKUCHI, April 21 - An incident of stone pelting on the open dais occurred when MGVK Bhanu was addressing an election meeting organised for Bobbeeta Sharma, Congress candidate for the Guwahati Lok Sabha seat yesterday evening.
Reacting to the unsavoury incident, Bhanu said, �stone pelting by miscreants has set a bad precedent in a democracy. I feel disgusted for such a criminal activity, especially in a place like Sualkuchi, where people take pride in preserving the world-famous muga and paat textile industry, which is the cultural heritage of Assam.�
The Sualkuchi Mandal Congress in collaboration with Jalukbari Block Yuva Congress organised the rally yesterday at Bazar Chowk, the business nerve centre of Sualkuchi.
Incidentally, some people probably with an intention to disturb the meeting, staged a demonstration and shouted anti-Congress slogans near the venue.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Bhanu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s promises have no relevance under the present circumstances. He could not fill in 23 lakh vacant posts in India nor deport any illegal migrant from Assam.
Further, the Modi Government suspended the special category status for Assam, following which the grant of Rs 10,000 crore obtained during the Congress regime was curtailed . He also criticised the BJP government for trying to bring in the Citizenship Amendmant Bill-2016, which will have a detrimental effect on the Assamese people in the long run.
Addressing the meeting, former Industry Minister Pradyut Bordoloi condemned the stone-pelting incident and termed it a �Himanta culture�.
Regarding the Handloom industry in Sualkuchi, he said the indigenous textile industry of Sualkuchi has started deteriorating since the last 15 years. He charged Himanta Biswa Sarma for diverting the youth from their handloom industry. The youths of Sualkuchi today are knocking on the doors of the industrial hubs instead of weaving, he alleged.
