A deserted road in Bongaigaon on Friday, during the 24-hour bandh. Picture by UB Photos

Dhubri, Aug. 13: The 24-hour Assam bandh called by the Koch Rajbongshi Sanmilita Mancha from 5am today demanding inclusion of the community in the Scheduled Tribe list and creation of Kamtapur state paralysed normal life in the lower Assam districts.

Though the impact of the bandh was felt almost all over the state, barring Kamrup, Kamrup (metro), Nagaon and Morigaon, it was reported to be total in the lower Assam districts.

Moreover, police arrested over 100 activists, including 10 at Sapatgram in Dhubri district, while they were trying to enforce the bandh. They were released in the evening.

Chief convener of the mancha Biswajit Roy, who is also the president of All Koch Rajbongshi Students Union, told The Telegraph that the bandh was total and peaceful across Assam. He said the mancha had also called a 12-hour rail blockade on September 6. “But if government does not respond to the demands of the Koch-Rajbongshi community they would be compelled to start a 500-hour national highway blockade, a 100-hour rail blockade and an indefinite sit-in hunger strike,” Roy said.

Roy said a delegation of the mancha, accompanied by legislators from the Koch-Rajbongshi community, would meet chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the monsoon session of Parliament to place their demands.

The community has been demanding formation of Kamtapur comprising six districts of West Bengal and a large portion of Assam (from Dhemaji on the north to Morigaon on the south, up to the Assam-Bengal border).