BJP to send fact-finding team to violence-hit Assam

NEW DELHI: With ethnic violence continuing in parts of Assam, BJP today decided to send a fact-finding team to the state to ascertain the reasons that led to the clashes.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari has deputed a four-member team to assess the situation in violence-hit parts of Assam.

BJP's Assam affairs in-charge and party general secretary Vijay Goel will head the team, which will visit the violence- hit areas of Assam soon and make a first-hand assessment of the happenings in the eastern state.

Other members of the fact-finding team are Party general secretary Kiran Maheshwari, who is also the co-in-charge of party affairs in Assam, besides party MPs Vijay Chakravarty and Raman Deka.

Certain parts of Assam, including Kokrajhar district, are badly affected following violent clashes between Bodo tribals and minority immigrants. 21 people have been killed in ethnic violence so far.

The violence which started in Kokrajhar and Chirang districts of Assam has spread to Bongaigaon district. An indefinite curfew is imposed in Kokrajhar, while night curfew is continuing in Chirang and Dhubri districts.

Thousands of people have been rendered homeless with most of them taking shelter in government-run relief camps in Kokrajhar while in Chirang they have taken shelter in schools and local club buildings.

The violence was triggered by the firing on two student leaders who were critically injured - Mohibul Islam of All Bodoland Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and Abdul Siddique Sheikh of All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) in Kokrajhar.

In a retaliatory attack, four former Bodo Liberation Tigers cadres were killed on Friday night in the district and this led to further attacks and counter-attacks resulting in the deaths.