A group of Trinamool Congress leaders were detained at Silchar Airport in Assam on Thursday for allegedly protesting and creating a ruckus. The six MPs and an MLA have claimed that they were physically assaulted.
"The situation is worse than Emergency in the country. BJP has adopted strong-arm tactics to intimidate us but we won't be afraid. We will fight the injustice meted out to Indian citizens until we find a logical conclusion to this problem," West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said.
#WATCH Trinamool Congress MP and MLA delegation detained at Silchar airport #NRCAssam pic.twitter.com/G8l2l3OEFp
— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2018
Officials have said that they will send the TMC leaders back to New Delhi. A group of journalists, who were accompanying the TMC leaders, were also manhandled.
They have been told to avoid making any provocative speech against the Assam NRC, which has the state on edge since the first draft was brought in front of the Parliament on Tuesday.
The TMC team was in Assam to host talks with several Bengali organisations regarding the NRC. The leaders were due to hold a meeting at the Silchar Raj Bhawan. While the Assam government did not have an issue with the meeting, Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary warned that action would be taken if they attempted to incite violence.
Prior to their arrival from New Delhi at 2 pm, heavy security was deployed at the airport with the government deploying Rapid Action Force (RAF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Assam Rifles and Assam Police personnel in various areas all over the city.
Earlier in the day, the government had also imposed section 144 of the CrPc in the city fearing that the TMC leaders' presence would lead to violent protests.
