SHILLONG:
Former Chief Minister and TMC leader Dr. Mukul Sangma, on July 25, slammed the West Garo Hills district police for publicly circulating the list of arrested individuals involved in the mayhem at Tura on July 24, along with their political affiliation.
“Thousands of people had converged at that place; have they (police) identified the party affiliations of all these people? The police are expected to respond to the call of duty in sync with the law of the land; they are an integral part of the administration of justice; Now, the manner in which the police acted is a reflection of the fact that the district police is acting on the behest of political bosses who are in power,” Sangma said.
Stating that the mayhem at Tura yesterday had shocked the people of the entire state, Sangma said, the attention is, however, drawn to the manner in which the aftermath of the incident was handled by the police.
“Yes, such incidents do not augur well for the state and we condemn such incidents but the reaction from the law enforcing agencies was something that became the talk of the day. I have seen the list – the arrested persons range from 19 to 21 years old from different parts of Garo Hills and instead of realising their failure and incompetence, that had resulted in what had happened in Tura yesterday, they (police) reduced themselves to instruments of political bosses. How is it that the police did not know what was happening?” the TMC asked.
Commenting on the movement initiated by ACHIK, that has been demanding for a winter capital for Tura and the retrospective implementation of the roster system, Sangma said, “The whole movement is being navigated in such a way that as though it becomes an issue which has to be taken up by all people belonging to one particular community.”
“If you go by these social media postings, even MLAs were being questioned as to why the Garo MLAs are not participating or supporting the movement? There was a repeated reminder to the people – call it a director or an appeal – saying that everyone, from every nook of Garo Hills, must come and converge at that place – all in the name of jaidbynriew (community). So, whoever has gone will be charged with emotion. How do you deal with such situation?” he asked.
Ruing a decline in the sense of oneness among the different communities, Sangma said, “I had also earlier suggested that the sense of oneness is crucial for peace of the state. Somehow or other, it pained me to see that the sense of oneness is confronted by these big challenges.”