Around 100 Congress leaders, including party general secretary Jitendra Singh and MPs and MLAs, were arrested from Darrang district on Saturday while protesting the Centre’s farm laws, police said.
Darrang Superintendent of Police Amrit Bhuyan told PTI that around 100 leaders were arrested for violating Section 144 of CrPC, which was in place in the district headquarters.
“They had sought permission but were denied. Moreover, COVID-19 protocols are also in place. We arrested them from the protest site and later released all the leaders on bail after completing the necessary formalities,” he added.
Along with Mr. Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah, Lok Sabha MPs Gaurav Gogoi and MLAs Nandita Das, Rekibuddin Ahmed, Abul Kalam Rasheed Alam, Rakibul Hussain, Jakir Hussain Sikdar, Nurul Huda and many other senior leaders were also arrested from the Kishan Tractor Rally.
“This is an anti-farmer government. Even if they arrest us, we will continue to protest and fight for farmers’ benefit,” Mr. Singh, the AICC in-charge for Assam, said.
The senior Congress leaders and their supporters marched towards the Deputy Commissioner’s office from the Rajiv Bhawan campus at ward no 2 and tried to overcome the barricades placed by the police near Ram Janaki temple on the NH-15.
