Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, expressed his sorrow over the violence that occurred at a contentious Assam-Meghalaya border location on Tuesday, which resulted in the deaths of six people. Banerjee said the incident demonstrated the “ineptitude” of the Meghalaya government. Six individuals, including a forest guard, were slain in the early morning fighting after forest guards from Assam stopped a truck that was apparently carrying illegally cut timber.
“I am startled and very saddened by the terribly tragic firing event at Mukroh, Meghalaya which lost the lives of five innocent villagers and a forest guard from Assam,” tweeted Banerjee in response to the incident. “How long will Meghalaya’s chief minister, @himantabiswa, be allowed to take the state for granted? How much longer must Meghalayans endure terror and uncertainty. How much longer will this injustice persist? “Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, asked.
In an apparent jab at the Conrad Sangma administration in Meghalaya, he said on the microblogging site, “Today’s episode demonstrates the ineptitude of the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) Govt, failing its own people.”
Visiting the survivors of the Mukroh fire incident at the Jowai Civil Hospital and the family members of the deceased, senior TMC leader and former chief minister Mukul Sangma assured them of his unwavering support, the party stated in another tweet.
Conrad Sangma, the chief minister of Meghalaya and a member of the BJP, complained that Assam police and forest guards had “entered Meghalaya and resorted to unprovoked firing” in a tweet that included the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
However, Assam Police officials said that the vehicle was stopped in the state’s West Karbi Anglong district by a team from the forest department, and that after a Meghalayan mob attacked the state’s forest guards and cops, Assam fired to subdue the situation.
According to Conrad Sangma, five of the six people slain in the conflict were inhabitants of Meghalaya, while one was an Assam Forest guard.
