Assam Police on Monday issued a strong warning to the leaders of six ethnic groups and ordered to lift the Assam Bandh of November 15.

They warned that they will arrest the protestors who will take to the streets in the name of bandh and ordered to lift the bandh in the interest of maintaining an atmosphere of peace.

The police stated that calling a bandh is illegal and will face punishment if they violate court’s order.

Notably, Assam bandh was called on November 15 over ST status of the six ethnic groups called by Six Ethnic United Forum.

The police in a directive said that they had not allowed the bandh and the union will have to compensation if the bandh supporters damage any of the public properties.

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 decision was taken at a meeting of the Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was welcomed warmly by the states concerned.

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.