The firing incident at Dholpur village in Assam’s Darrang district during the eviction drive held on Thursday has created an unsettling stir among the people, primarily through social media. The incident gained attention and was ignited to a higher degree when a video went viral on all social media platforms.
The cameraman Bijay Shankar Baniya is seen kicking the person who is presumed dead. The footage captures hundreds of police officers open firing unseen targets from behind the trees while a man wearing a vest and lungi is running on a dusty street.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma mentions that 10,000 people gheraoed the security personnel and resorted to violence to achieve their objective.
The Chief Minister also adds, stating that authoritative bodies initiated the eviction drive based on the agreed principle. The Chief Minister and the other officials decided that the regulating bodies would provide the landless with 2 acres each per the land policy and its representatives.
The police officers expected no form of resistance. Still, to their surprise, around 10,000 people resorted to violence on the Assam Police. Upon witnessing the situation, the police retaliated as well.
Allegedly it is said that the protestors hurled stones and attacked the officials with sharp weapons.The police did not have much choice but to open fire in ‘self-defence’, which led to the death of two civilians.
The CM’s reaction
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flew into a rage, stating that one should not be demeaning the state government solely based on one video. He opines that the authorities have been agreeing upon a peaceful, non-violent eviction drive. Still, the protectors instigated them to resort to open fire.
Himanta Sarma informs that 11 police personnel were injured and stated that the governing body would carry out an inquiry along with a judicial probe will be carried out as to how the photographer was there in the scene, let alone take a picture and try to overpower the other person.
With this incident being a national headline, the AAMSU that is All Assam Minority Students Union, has requested a probe into the matter by a sitting judge in the Guwahati High Court under the chief justice.
A sitting judge is taken into preference over a retired judge to ensure an impartial probe into the killings of the state police, which had a chance to be avoided.
The Chief Minister defends his stand, saying that they never did this eviction overnight. Panellists and authoritative ministers were involved in discussions for four months.
Reactions From Other Leaders
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claims that Assam is on a ‘state sponsored fire’ after the violent clashes in Darrang. He further states that he stands in solidarity with all the state citizens as none deserves this.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also states that the video that was made viral was horrific and inhuman. She further says that we humans are becoming a bloodthirsty society and is asking each person to paise, reflect, and rethink this country’s path as a nation that promises equality for all irrespective of religion, caste, caste, or any other factor.
The Two Sides of A Coin Angle
Just as every coin has two sides, similarly, every story has two sides. While the Chief Minister defends his stance, the other story needs to come to light. The eviction drive on September 23rd affected 200 households without showing the people where they would be settling in the upcoming days.
The District Administration released their eviction notice the previous night to the families. Even worse was that they were given time only till 6 am, and by morning, the dismantling process started with 80 per cent of the dwellings turning to dust in seconds.
Some residents objected to this, stating that they would not budge unless the concerned officials informed them about where they would be going.
The state police did not cooperate either, as they allowed bulldozers to run over their houses. It provoked the residents because they were poor and would not re-use the tin sheds and other materials to rebuild their dwellings.
The other side of the story proves that all this was pre-planned long before.
