NSUI burns Sonowal’s effigy

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, July 21: NSUI workers today burnt the effigy of Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonwal in front of the Assembly Secretariat here against the decision of the government to auction small oilfields in Assam and the recent hike in VAT.  Around 100 NSUI activists led by NSUI tiol secretary Vardhan Yadav, NSUI state vice-president Zubair Aman, Mijanur Rahman and former state vice-president Arup Talukdar burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister and shouted slogans against the government.

“We strongly oppose the decision of the government to auction the oilfields in Assam. Assam had witnessed an agitation for a period of six long years to establish the rights of the people of Assam on oil... there is question (sic) of Assamese tiolist sentiments associated with Assam’s oilfields,” said an NSUI activist.

Regarding the hike in VAT, they said that the common people of Assam have been victims of price rise.

“Instead of adopting measures to minimize the seriousness of price hike, the Government of Assam has increased the VAT from 5 to 6 per cent which is likely to further increase the prices of 127 essential commodities,” they said.

The protesters were later detained by police and taken to Basistha police station. They were released in the evening. However, questions are being raised as to how the NSUI activists could stage protest in front of Assembly Secretariat, which is known as high security zone. During the time of protest hundreds of security personnel were present in and around the Assembly as the session in the house was going on.