Guwahati: The All Assam Chutia Students’ Union (AACSU) president was arrested by Assam Police on Tuesday in the Golaghat district.
The president identified as Mahen Bora and five other people were reportedly arrested for torching tyres during a bandh that was called by six different ethnic groups in the state.
The district was significantly affected by the Assam Bandh, which was demanded by the state’s six ethnic groups in order to be granted ST status.
Several businesses, and government and private bus services were shut down due to the bandh in Golaghat.
The police have been on high alert to make sure that no one breaks the law and that there is continued peace and order since early in the day.
However, Mahen and five other people were seen burning tyres, which led to their imprisonment.
The six ethnic groups were given a warning and a request to end the bandh by the Assam Police on Monday.
They had issued a warning that they would detain any demonstrators who took to the streets in support of the bandh.
In a directive, the police stated that they had not authorised the bandh and that the union would be responsible for any damages caused by bandh supporters to public property.
It may be mentioned that the Central Government in September approved the inclusion of various communities in the lists of ST of five states namely Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The affected states enthusiastically embraced the decision, which was made at a meeting of the Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, they failed to include six ethnic groups from Assam.
Granting ST status to the Adivasi, Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi, Matak, Moran and Tai-Ahom communities was one of the promises of the BJP ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections. These communities together comprise more than 30 percent of Assam’s electorate.