Meghalaya police and government have called for calm.
Guwahati:
The Meghalaya government called on all communities to maintain peace and harmony ahead of the holiday season after the powerful Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Wednesday released posters featuring the racial profile of the Bengali community.
Posters with messages like “All Meghalaya Bengalis are Bangladeshis” and “Khasiland for Khasis; strangers are leaving ”were plastered in the state capital, Shillong, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the northeast.
They were then removed by the police who tweeted: “It is hereby informed that the banners which were displayed today in public places, have been removed. We ask all concerned to cooperate with us to promote peace and harmony in the state. “
“Whatever we do, we must not vitiate the atmosphere or disturb the peace and quiet in the State. I ask everyone not to give common colors to any incident, ”said Minister of the Interior of Meghalaya Lahkmen Rymbui.
The incident has its roots in the Ichamati incident where earlier this year a KSU member was killed in clashes with non-tribals who were largely Bengali.
The violence erupted when the KSU organized a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Law and in favor of the Domestic Line Permit or ILP at Meghalaya in Ichamati, a small town very close to the border with Bangladesh.
One of the posters put up on Wednesday mentioned the Ichamati incident and the death of the KSU member.
Khasi Students’ Union general secretary Donald Thabah told reporters in Shillong that it was a protest against a “false story”.
“Recently, too many groups interfered in an ongoing investigation into the murder of a youth. It was time to speak and that is why we decided to protest. They tried to give it a racial and communal color. baseless allegations that the Christian majority persecute Hindu Bengalis in areas like Ichamati. Meghalaya police made several statements saying there were no such problems. Yet these groups were forced to spread the false narrative, ”Thabah said.
The three young people submitted a memorandum to the governor of Meghalaya which said that there was persecution against Bengali Hindus and in particular women in the Ichamati region. The police investigated and found no truth there. yet it continues to spread false stories, ”he said. .
The Meghalaya government recently denied permission to an organization based in West Bengal that wished to visit Ichamati to see the condition of the Bengalis living there.
