NE MPs seek Home Minister’s intervention in Assam riots backlash against North Eastern students

GANGTOK, 14 Aug: MPs of North Eastern states including Sikkim MP, PD Rai today submitted a letter to the Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, calling for his immediate intervention in the alleged violence against North-Eastern students studying in metropolitan cities following the violence that erupted in Kokrajhar, Assam recently.
According to news reports in the national media, two persons were killed when a rally organised against the Assam riots went out of control in Mumbai on Saturday. In Pune, 10 students and professionals were beaten up on 08 and 09 August allegedly by members of the minority community which suffered in the Kokrajhar violence.
In Kolkata, posters and SMSes sympathizing with the Assam riot victims surfaced in various parts of the city while in Andhra Pradesh, two labourers from Assam’s Kokrajhar district were attacked. Incidents have also been reported from Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Providing these details, the MPs have urged the Home Minister to advise the respected State Governments to “take firm and punitive action against the perpetrators of this violence”. The Home Minister in response has assured to take up the matter immediately and advise all State Governments, especially those of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.