'I thought that the days of firing between two police forces (belonging to states of the Union of India) were over.'
Over 73.44 lakh voters exercised their franchise in 10,592 polling stations spread over 13 districts in the Barak Valley, the hill regions and parts of central and lower Assam.
The Centre has summoned to New Delhi the chief secretaries and directors general of police (DGPs) of Assam and Mizoram for a meeting on Wednesday while the restive inter-state border was calm, a day after armed clashes left six dead and over 50 injured, officials said.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh will have to treat these militias for what they are: Criminals armed with deadly weapons. Otherwise, nothing will distinguish the National Democratic Alliance government from the ten-year long perfidy of the UPA in Assam.'
The 84-year old veteran Congressman, who died from post-COVID complications on Monday, was a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist.
'Assam is not a dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindu refugees,' says Assamese actor Ravi Sharma who joined the BJP in August and quit the party on December 10 in protest against the Citizenship Act.
A total of five FIRs have been registered against Banerjee in Assam since the publication of the NRC final draft on July 30.
High-pitched identity politics, which is the norm in the northeast, has continued to compound the boundary problem.
The committees headed by a cabinet minister will have bureaucrats and maybe a local representative as members and they will visit the disputed sites, interact with the civil society members and complete the discussions within 30 days, Sarma said.
The Border Security Force has handed over a list of 66 camps of north-east insurgents to the Border Guard Bangladesh, seeking actions against them.
'This is not the first time that a large contingent of Assam armed police led by senior officers attacked and destroyed farm huts, crops and plantations of Mizo farmers.' 'There have been a series of such intrusions in the past and the pace of such intrusions increased in the recent past.'
The Assam-Mizoram violence is an outcome of BJP trying too hard to 'integrate' distinct northeastern states, explains Shekhar Gupta.
While incessant rain in the past 24 hours has wreaked havoc in parts of the northeast, triggering flash floods, the national capital experienced one of its hottest days.
Currently, the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns, while the Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj are flowing above the danger mark.
Production between January and mid-March declined by about 5.85 million kg.
BJP is set to win majority of 32 municipality boards and 42 town committees in Assam
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
'The significance and timing of the PM's start of the campaign journey from Silchar is a clear message that the Barak valley is a priority in his scheme of things,' notes Subimal Bhattacharjee.
