The Congress in Assam slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government for alleged police brutality on the State’s women farmers for resisting the takeover of their farmlands.
Reports from Bamuni Mikirgaon in central Assam’s Nagaon district said the police cane-charged some women who were protesting the government’s bid to evict them from their farmlands on December 29. The government allegedly wants the land to be handed over to some private firms, they villagers said.
“At a time when the entire country has been standing with the farmers, the BJP government in Assam has started violent attacks on farmers without even sparing the women in Nagaon,” Congress spokesperson Bobbeeta Sarma said on Thursday.
About 100 indigenous farmers have been cultivating rice and bean on a sizeable chunk of land in the village for more than 20 years and according to the local unit of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP), they have been paying revenue to the government.
“We will not tolerate such atrocities on peasants at a time when farmers are demanding the repeal of anti-farmer laws brought about by the Centre,” local AJYCP leader Deep Moni Bora said, adding that the police cane-charged the protesters — many of them women — without any provocation.
A few farmers were injured in the clash with the police. The district police, however, blamed the farmers for the violence. Three of them were arrested.
