Assam Indigenous Peoples Protection Committee (AIPPC) on Wednesday strongly condemned the incident of smearing a state government hoarding written in Assamese with black ink in Silchar town in the Barak valley, an area predominated by Bengali speakers.
The body urged the Assam government to take strict action against the culprits, else, "AIPPC will be bound for any kind of agitation," adding, that the "state government will be responsible" for the occurrence of "any untoward incident".
"We demand that all culprits involved in this incident are arrested immediately," an official release from AIPPC read.
Notably, the culprits Samar Das (34) and Raju Deb (33) were arrested earlier today and booked under Section 425 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, were granted bail by Silchar court this evening.
Visuals on Monday showed some miscreants defacing a hoarding, located near Silchar Railway Station. The Assamese letters were smudged, and in black ink, they wrote 'Bangla Likhun', or 'write in Bengali'. Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi, the three districts of Barak Valley constitute a Bengali-speaking majority.
Further, in its release, AIPPC stated that the body and all indigenous people of Barak Valley claim Assamese as its primary language. They also asserted that "but some refugees are trying to divide us, which may be utterly dangerous for United Assam".
The body appealed to the indigenous people of Barak valley to remain united, and "fight against refugees", and "haters of Assamese language".
"We want peace, harmony, and brotherhood among all indigenous communities of Assam," the release added.
Mentioning that Barak Valley comprises communities such as "Manipuris, Koch Rajbongshi, Diamasa, Kachari, Muslims, Hmar, tea, and other tribes," and "none want the Bengali language".
