Normal life was disrupted on Thursday in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh due to a 12-hour bandh called by the North East Students’ Organisation to protest “harassment” of students from the region in other parts of the country and influx of illegal migrants.
Shops, markets, business establishments, Government and private offices, banks and education institutions were mostly closed in the four States due to the bandh which began this morning, according to official reports.
A massive rally was organised in Guwahati in Assam where NESO chairman Samujjal Bhattacharjee said, “Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accord in 1985, but Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairperson, has failed to implement it and stop illegal migration. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in Parliament, has also failed in this context,” he alleged.
He blamed Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for trivialising the issue and said that the recent exodus of students and professionals to the Northeast following the riots in lower Assam was the outcome of the government’s apathy.
The Guwahati rally was attended by 26 student organisations