July 7: A 12-hour bandh called by six organisations demanding Scheduled Tribe status paralysed normal life in a number of places across Assam.
A blazing sun and the bandh call kept people indoors in Upper Assam.
The region recorded the highest temperature so far this summer at 36.8 degrees Celsius. All activities, be it academic, official or business, remained non-starters; even roadside kiosks, which normally remain open during bandhs, chose to keep their shutters down.
"I have never witnessed such a bandh in recent times. Probably it is because of the heat that people opted to stay at home," Dipankar Baruah, a businessman from Gaurisagar in Sivasagar district, told The Telegraph.
"Today is the hottest day recorded this year," a scientist at the Assam Agricultural University here said.
Several passengers of a bus were injured when protesters threw stones at vehicles at Chabua in Tinsukia district. There were also reports of vehicles being damaged as they came under showers of stones and other missiles in Sivasagar and Golaghat districts.
Police arrested a large number of protesters while they were burning tyres on the roads to prevent movement of vehicles in all the Upper Assam districts.
The six ethnic groups - Koch-Rajbongshi, Moran, Chutiya, Muttock, Ahom and tea tribes - have been demanding Scheduled Tribe status for more than two decades now.
While five out of the six communities are considered among the indigenous people of Assam, the tea tribes are those who were brought to the region as indentured labour to work in the tea plantations during colonial times. They are classified as Scheduled Tribes in places from where their forefathers came but are deemed as Other Backward Classes in Assam.
"We will not rest till we are granted the ST status," Dhiraj Gowala, assistant general secretary of Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA), said.
"I am waiting for one hour and had not seen a single vehicle passing through Thana Chariali. I have to go to Mancotta but I don't know how will I go,'' said Sajal Das, a resident of Dibrugarh.
"The bandh was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported,'' a police official said in Dibrugarh.
On the other hand, a ceasework by workers of inland water transport department put paid to ferry services from all the 31 ghats in the state. The workers are protesting against an alleged move to privatise the department.
Biju Kumar Das, an office-bearer of the All Assam Inland Water-transport Workers' Union, told The Telegraph that the workers of the department would not agree to the move to privatise the department. "We were told that we will receive our salary according to the income of the department after it is converted to a corporation, but we will never allow that to happen," Das said.
He said ferry services at the ghats, including Neema-tighat and Kamalabari connecting Majuli, remained closed today and the river island remained cut-off from the mainland during the bandh period. "We are thankful for the support provided by the business community of Neematighat and Kamalabari who closed their shops today," he said.
The bandh also evoked a total response in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and parts of Chirang and Baksa districts in lower Assam.
Activists of Hiteswar Barman faction of All Koch-Rajbongshi Student's Union (AKRSU) enforced the bandh by burning tyres on the street at Barpara near Swahid Bedi in Bongaigaon and shouted slogans in support of their demand.
"We will certainly respond to the government if it calls us for fruitful discussion on the Scheduled Tribe issue. Otherwise the agitation would be intensified further," said Troilokyo Ray, general secretary of the AKRSU faction.
The bandh, however, had no impact in Barak Valley and Guwahati and little impact in the north bank.
