AITMC group engaged in brawl at Silchar airport: Rajnath

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New Delhi [India], Aug 3 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday clarified that the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) delegation had been asked to return from Silchar airport but they got into an altercation in which two women security personnel were also hurt.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath explained the situation that caused a ruckus at the Silchar airport yesterday. He said, “On August 2, the TMC delegation was received at Silchar airport with full protocol. They were asked to go back but the delegation engaged in an argument during which two women security personnel were injured. Few passengers were also inconvenienced.”
The police arrested the delegation members under Section 151 of CrPc, and were made to halt the night at a guest house near the airport. The delegation returned to Delhi today.
Rajnath informed, “On August 3, the delegation members flew back to Delhi from Silchar. The situation was handled in a way that law and order can be maintained.”
Earlier today, the TMC delegation claimed that they were allegedly manhandled and physically assaulted by the authorities at the airport.
The delegation comprising MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur, minister Firhad Hakim and MLA Mahua Moitra, was scheduled to visit Silchar on the issue of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft.
Speaking on the same, AITMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray told the media that the Assam state administration prevented the delegation from leaving the airport.
He said, “We were stopped from leaving the airport. They said that under CrPC, Section 144 has been promulgated. We wanted to see a copy of the order. And when we saw, the order said that more than four people were not allowed as per the provision of the law.”
Ray added, “77 passengers in the same aircraft were allowed to move out. Only six of us were not allowed. We told them that we will go in a different team, comprising two members each. But they did not allow us. We had to cancel our public meeting at the Rajiv Bhawan in Silchar. We wanted to see the affected families. We just wanted to have an on-the-spot study of the situation.”
On Thursday, Mahua Moitra allegedly assaulted a lady constable who restrained her at the Silchar airport. In a video accessed by ANI, Moitra could be seen physically assaulting a female constable, even as the latter pleaded the lawmaker with folded hands to calm down. The video also showed some of the other party workers sitting on the conveyor belt in the airport as a mark of protest.
Director General of Assam Police, Kuladhar Saikia later said legal action would be pursued against the eight-member delegation of TMC.
The draft list announced on July 30, left out nearly 40 lakh people in Assam, incorporating names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants. The first draft was published on December 31, 2017, and names of 1.9 crores of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated.
The NRC draft features the names, addresses and photographs of all Indian citizens, who have been residing in the northeastern state before March 25, 1971.