Several students’ bodies and civil society organisations including the Tai Ahom Students’ Union, All Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association and many others set a deadline of 24 hours to fulfil their demands and called for a bandh from 5 am to 5 pm on Friday as a mark of their protest.
Assam police have also arrested Shrikhal Chaliha, head of the Bir Lachit Sena who was on his way to Duliajan to support the agitation called by the different organisations.
The organisation were demanding immediate action against certain individuals who had recently desecrated the statue of Gopinath Bardoloi, the first Chief Minister of Assam, which had drawn public ire in the area.
The organisations have also been demanding swift action against the owner of a petrol pump, who has lodged a complaint against former student leader Shankarjyoti Baruah leading to his arrest.
The students’ bodies were also demanding action against certain erring police officials who had handcuffed the former students’ leader while he was being taken to the police station and the court.The bandh on Friday assumes significance considering the fact that the Guwahati High court had in 2019 imposed a ban on calling bandh across the state.
Manipur shutdown
The 48-hour shutdown, called by Meitei community body, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), in protest against the removal of the state’s name from a government bus on May 20, crippled normal life in five to six districts of Manipur’s Valley region for the second day on Friday.
All markets, shops, business establishments, government and non-government offices, educational and financial institutions, including banks, remained closed, and most vehicles, except those of security forces and emergency services, went off the roads.
Roadside vegetable vendors had set up their stalls at different places in Imphal East district earlier on Friday, but later left after the bandh supporters told them to close their stalls.
As per the COCOMI, the shutdown started on Wednesday midnight and it would end on Friday midnight.
The bandh, however, had almost no effect in Kuki-Zo-Hmar and Naga-dominated hill areas.
The COCOMI supporters, mostly women, stopped vehicles of security forces in different parts of Bishnupur and Thoubal districts and pasted printed paper inscribed “Manipur/Kangleipak” on the windshields of those vehicles.
Kangleipak is the Meitei language’s ancient name for the state of Manipur.
The issue arose after a media team, en route to cover the opening ceremony of the five-day-long Shirui Lily Festival in Ukhrul district on May 20, was forced to return to Imphal, allegedly after some security personnel blocked their bus at Gwaltabi in Imphal East district.
The All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and the Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), in a joint letter to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Tuesday, said that the security personnel instructed the media team to hide the “Manipur State Transport Corporation” signage on the front of the bus carrying 20 journalists and some Information Department officials.
The AMWJU and the EGM in protest against the incident organised a “pen down” protest on Wednesday against the “disrespectful behaviour” by the security personnel towards the press and the people of Manipur.
The Manipur government also constituted a two-member inquiry committee to probe the issue. The committee, comprising Commissioner, Home, N. Ashok Kumar, and Information Technology Secretary Th. Kirankumar Singh, would submit their report within 15 days.
The leading Meitei community body also called for the immediate resignation of Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh, Chief Secretary and Director General of Police Rajiv Singh, holding them responsible for failing to protect the dignity and integrity of the state of Manipur.
Shirui Lily Festival, mostly organised by the Meitei community, is celebrated in honour of the state flower, the Shirui Lily.
