| Mob strips woman protester in Guwahati |
Gory assault leaves Assam burning, Monday, November 26, 2007 (Guwahati)
As Guwahati burned with protests by Adivasis on Saturday, the police simply watched.
Shocking pictures of assault on an Adivasi woman, during a violent clash between Adivasi protesters and local residents on the streets of Guwahati on Saturday left the country in awe.
The irony was, that local residents in the presence of the police did all this.
The telling pictures reflect the deep-seated social divide between the mainstream middle class Assamese and the Adivasis, most of whom are tea garden labourers, brought as slaves by the British, nearly 200 years ago.
The protesters were marching towards the Assembly, demanding scheduled tribe status. The Adivasis damaged vehicles and destroyed some roadside shops after which they were taunted and heckled by the locals.
In the violence that followed, two Adivasis were killed and over 200 injured. The police, who're normally present in the area in large numbers, simply watched on.
Local residents started beating up the Adivasis and it's during this clash when a woman was stripped on the road and assaulted. She desperately ran for cover but to no avail. Later, some passers-by took her to a nearby locality, where she was given clothes.
The Chief Minister admits the administration didn't anticipate such a flare-up
''No, there's no social divide. We've been living together for hundreds of years. But yes, we didn't expect trouble as demonstrations in Guwahati are a day to day affair,'' said Tarun Gogoi, Chief Minister, Assam.
But not everyone is convinced with the Chief Minister's claims of social harmony between the Adivasis and the average Assamese. The Assamese have always looked down upon the Adivasis as tea leaf pluckers, even calling them ''coolies'' as they were called by the British.
Saturdays' wasn't a communal clash rather it was just another incident of suppressing those, who're already suppressed. While one man assaulted, the other helped.
And the clash has driven a wedge into the already fragile Assamese-Adivasi relationship. The Speaker of Assam Assembly, who comes from the tea community, had some strong words on the situation.
''This incident, particularly the attack on the woman is heinous, it has to be condemned. It was horrendous,'' said Prithvi Majhi, Speaker, Assam Assembly.
Assam has an Adivasi population of nearly 70 lakh who have been a Congress vote bank for years. But protests against Saturday's violence are already gaining pitch, even though 3 people have been arrested and 15 others are being questioned.
The issue now threatens to have an impact in Jharkhand that has a sizeable Adivasi population.
''The ghastly incident has sparked violence. We will have eco blockade in Jharkhand, block coal, and iron ore. Jharkhand will burn. We will take it seriously. They have to be given ST status, like they get ST status in the rest of the country,'' said Salkhan Murmu, Secretary General, All India Adivasi Coordination Committee.
Adivasis have called a 36-hour Assam bandh and threatened to intensify their agitation, which could add to the problems of the administration that is struggling to deal with militants.
ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070034047&ch=11/26/2007%209:43:00%20PM
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Mob strips woman protester in Guwahati
27 Nov 2007, 0001 hrs IST, TNN
GUWAHATI: Like in most bandhs and protests, poor adivasi workers from the once lush tea gardens of Assam did dent business and damage some property as they marched through Guwahati to demand inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list which will help them get easier access to education and jobs.
But it was one adivasi woman who bore the brunt of the anger of local residents. She was attacked, her clothes were ripped off and a mob chased the naked woman along the streets. Ducking from prying eyes and TV cameras and terrified by screams of a mob chasing her, the woman ran until some other residents rescued her on Saturday and gave her clothes and cover both from the lathi-wielding police and the assailants.
Two days later, after the protests spiralled as news of the attack on the woman got out, Assam's CM Tarun Gogoi said he was enraged by the crowd behaviour and police said three of the assailants had been arrested. He announced a Rs 1 lakh compensation for the woman, whose identity was not disclosed. "I am horrified by the incident. I cannot believe how people can be so inhuman and barbaric. Everybody seems to have lost their sense," said Gogoi on Monday. The CM also announced a judicial inquiry into Saturday's violence.
Police said three men were picked up from their houses early Monday. They were identified as Prasenjit Chakravorty (28), owner of a fast food joint, Ratul Barman (18), a hotel waiter, and Sudip Chakdar (20), a pan shop owner.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren, who has pitched in for Assam's adivasi migrants, said the incident demonstrated the racial hatred for tribals. "I have also led many agitations, but never had we targeted women. Adivasis across the country are always looked down upon and do not get the respect they deserve from people and the government as a whole," Soren said on Monday after visiting injured protesters.
Former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi also waded in as the bandh took a tribal vs non-tribal hue. He flew into Guwahati Monday afternoon and went straight for a press conference with the main opposition party Assam Gana Parishad (AGP). "This is a conspiracy hatched by Congress government," he charged. Although Guwahati remained largely peaceful in the last phase of the 36-hour protest that began on Saturday, the stripping incident gave it a new impetus in many areas where the sponsors, the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam, had clout.
Sporadic violence was reported and bandh supporters attacked one vehicle at Karigaon in Kokrajhar district, killing one person and injuring two others. So far, at least six people have been killed in clashes between adivasi activists and local people. About 250 people have been injured in police action or clashes.
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