SHILLONG:
The mayhem in Tura that broke out on July 24, evening while the CM-ACHIK meeting was going on, has raised questions on the competence of intelligence and the influence of some political party(s) to hijack the ‘winter capital’ movement at Tura.
While the opposition TMC and Congress, including social activists, have raised questions about the intelligence’s failure in containing the chaos.
“Well, I won’t say it was a failure on the part of the intelligence. There was no failure but all I am saying is that we need to improve the police department further. Going forward, the police forces, including intelligence, will be more active on all fronts and we will do our best,” Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police) Prestone Tynsong said on July 27.
The BJP, on the other hand, saw this as a ‘pre-planned’ conspiracy to murder the chief minister as the chaos happened right outside the Chief Minister’s Office in Tura, where Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was having a meeting with social organisations on their demands for winter capital for Tura and the retrospective implementation of the roster system.
“For me, any violent incident leads to law-and-order problems. Pre-planned or no pre-planned, I can’t just come to a conclusion but the fact remains: the law is the law and the police personnel are here to serve the people,” Tynsong said.
Condemning the incident, the deputy chief minister said that they (instigators) had gone there to cause damage not just to the chief minister but the people of the state.
“Why should we talk about the CM alone? We are talking about the damages intended by these people because, at the end of the day, law and order problems affect everyone, both the rich and the poor,” he added.
Stating that the events that unfolded on July 24 look politically-motivated, Tynsong said, “My conclusion says that these are all political issues and plans made by a few political parties and it seems like politically-motivated. These are not the agenda of Khasi, Jaintia, or Garo but of some political parties.”
To the demands raised by TMC for the suspension of the Direction General of Police (DGP) and the Superintendent of Police, West Garo Hills for dragging the party into the ‘mess’, Tynsong said that facts speak for themselves.
“They can demand whatever they want but let us go by the facts. When we made the arrests, right from that night, we found that quite a number of them, in some way or the other, belong to a certain political party,” the deputy chief minister said.
“However, I don’t want to dwell much on that. Let the law take its own course; the investigation is on and I am happy with the police forces stepping on time, to maintain law and order; I congratulate them and request them to go more aggressive on these issues and to be more proactive,” Tynsong added.
Earlier, TMC leader Dr. Mukul Sangma questioned the manner in which the police handled the aftermath of the Tura mayhem and said that the police were acting at the behest of political bosses. His statement came following the arrests of several individuals who reportedly had political affiliation with either the TMC or the BJP.