Elders suggest ways to thwart hate crimes

Guwahati, October 22, 2014: The Guwahati Senior Citizens’ Association (GSCA) discussed at length the problem of physical tortures perpetrated on youths hailing from the North-east – particularly young girls – indicating racial discrimination in several parts of the country, especially in the national capital towards the people of the North-east.

The association, in its meeting held on Saturday under the presidentship of DN Chakravartty, expressed dissatisfaction at the failure of the local police administration in booking the culprits responsible for such hate crimes in the recent past and also in preventing their occurrence.

The association suggested the setting up of a police battalion manned by youth from the North-east, which will work under the command of Delhi Police and will be financed by the north-eastern States.

Initiating the discussion on three subjects, Chakravartty referred to the problems of Guwahati city and stressed the need for devising ways and means to salvage the city from the mire of problems and clumsiness.

Several members including Khanindra Chandra Das, Baneswar Khound, Durga Charan Choudhury, Pabitra Lahkar, Krishna Lahkar, SK Baruah, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Konika Bardoloi, while participating in the discussion, expressed solidarity with the youths of the northeastern region staying in Delhi, Bangalore and other metros. They also appealed to the northeastern youths not to display any behaviour which might irritate the sensibilities of local people of Delhi or Bangalore.

The elderly persons also discussed the steps for revival of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to fulfil the objectives for which the party was formed in 1985.

All the speakers fully subscribed to the urgency of having a regional party and observed that the AGP might have to discard a lot of shortcomings that it had developed during its stint in power a couple of times.

The speakers cautioned the leaders and party workers of AGP that if the party fails to make a mark in the 2016 polls, it had no other alternative but to give way for a new party to rise from the ruins of the AGP.

Buddhadev Goswami, Dr Banikanta Sarma and Dr Jogendranath Nath also spoke.

Earlier, Tabiul Hussain, member, administration, and Abani Kumar Sarma, member, finance, in their reports, dwelt on the activities of the association. It condoled the death of Krishna Chandra Bhagati, Ratna Kumar Gautam and Surya Kumar Khanikar, who had been members of the association.

Source: Assam Tribune