Amid the uproar by Trinamool Congress over the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), TMC leader Mahua Moitra has been alleged of assaulting a lady constable who restrained her at the Silchar airport. Moitra, one of the eight TMC members detained at the Silchar airport in Cachar district yesterday, had reached Assam to meet people whose names couldn’t figure in the final draft of NRC.
In a video accessed by ANI, Moitra can be seen physically assaulting a female constable, even as the latter pleaded the MP with folded hands to calm down. The video also shows some of the other party workers sitting on the conveyor belt in the airport as a mark of protest. In the scuffle, two of Assam Police constables and one worker from district administration were injured. Following the scuffle, according to the Assam Police, two female constables, Sompa Das and Rubi Rani Das and one Civil Administration official Partha Seal suffered injuries.
#PROOF Two Trinamool MPs and a Trinamool MLA ( all 3 ladies in blue). Some NK channels saying they “assaulted” police at Silchar Airport. Shame on such reportage. Watch. pic.twitter.com/55d0coQjt7
— AITC (@AITCofficial) August 2, 2018
However, Moitra was quoted as saying by The Indian Express that they (Assam police ) restrained TMC members without any reason and didn’t let them move. She added that they were manhandled.
Some suppliant BJP-RSS media, also known as NK channels, why is this pic not on air ? My Trinamool colleague Mahua Moitra was in obvious distress at Silchar airport earlier today. Many in the 8-member delegation were roughed up and beaten. Report the facts. Stop the spin #pic pic.twitter.com/bfgZHl0eox
— Derek O’Brien (@derekobrienmp) August 2, 2018
Kuladhar Saikia, Director General of Assam Police, said legal action will be pursued against the eight-member delegation of AITMC. Saikia said Assam Police had requested the delegation of TMC leaders not to come to Silchar now as maintaining peace was on their priority. Moreover, Section 144 is imposed in Cachar district.
As per a PTI report, six of the eight-member Trinamool Congress delegation including Moitra left Assam Friday morning after overnight detention at Silchar airport. Apart from Moitra, the delegation comprised of MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur, minister Firhad Hakim. MPs Mamatabala Thakur and Arpita Ghosh would leave the state later in the day.
MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said that police stopped them at the airport saying their visit might create trouble. It said that the members were kept in the VIP lounge of Kumbhigram airport.
The TMC team went there at the instruction of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee who has been accusing the BJP government at the Centre of resorting to ‘vote-bank politics’ by eliminating names of 40 lakh people on basis of their religion from the NRC draft in Assam.