Opposition politician and leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Dr Mukul Sangma has gone on the offensive over last night’s violence in Tura, demanding an independent inquiry into why the party’s youth president was arrested.
A list of names of those arrested following the violent attack that left several police personnel injured was circulated today, naming several members of the TMC and Bharatiya Janata Party.
While the BJP today condemned the violence and said it would take appropriate action against any of its members found to have taken part in it, Dr Sangma, by contrast, took the bull by the horns and went after the government and police.
The former Chief Minister lashed out at the police, saying that they have reduced themselves to pawns of their political bosses and not as an independent force.
“The police are an integral part of the administration of justice,” the opposition legislator said. “Now, the manner in which the police acted is a reflection of the fact that the district police are acting at the behest of political bosses who are in power. The police have reduced themselves to an instrument of the political bosses.”
He warned that if the police are being misused in this way then the whole administration cannot be trusted. Dr Sangma further added that the police incompetency led to yesterday’s incident at the Chief Minister’s office in Tura, which police today described as an orchestrated attempt on the life of the CM.
He stated that the incompetence of the police has led to yesterday’s incident.
“How is it that the police did not know what was happening?” Dr Sangma questioned. “There was a whole list in a social media post that was doing the rounds in the preceding days. There was a repeated reminder to people somewhere – more like a directive, more like an appeal – saying that everybody from every nook and corner of Garo Hills must come and converge to that place of meeting.”
“That itself should have alerted the government because when people try to influence the minds of the people around community, then you know what happens,” he added, describing this populism as a “dangerous trend” and a big challenge to the unity of the tribes of Meghalaya.
