Bharat Bandh: At Least 23 Congress Members Arrested in Tinsukia for Disrupting Normalcy

Margherita: At a time when the Congress party made out in the middle of the road on Monday protesting against the recent hike in the petrol prices, around 18 Congress members were arrested from Digboi and Dumduma areas for allegedly violating the section of the CrPC 144.

Similarly, five Congress members identified as Alfaz Ahmed, Gaurav Sharma, Shakeel Ansari, Toufiq Khan, Haidar Ali were arrested from NEC CIL office in Margherita under the bailable section of the CrPC 151.

It may be mentioned that the Bharat Bandh called by the All India Congress Committee along with 21 other organizations has badly affected normal life across the country including Assam.

Assam remained stalled since morning as shops were closed and transportation was disrupted due to the ‘Bharat Bandh’ in protest against “rising fuel prices and a rupee value drop.

Congress leaders attempting to make the Bharat Bandh influential attempted to stop the movement of trains by squatting on the railway tracks and tried to block national highways and main roads across the state by burning tyres and setting up bamboo barricades.

In the capital city Guwahati, party workers of the Congress took out a rally which was led by Assam Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora along with party in-charge for the state Harish Rawat.

The agitating protestors tried to enter the secretariat; however, they were stopped by the security forces. They were later taken into preventive custody. The protesters had reportedly not given any prior information to the authorities about the rally.