Two persons were killed in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday after clashes broke out between Karbis and non-Karbis, a senior police official told Scroll.
One of those killed, 40-year-old Linus Timung, belongs to the Karbi community, while another, Suraj Dey, is a Hindu Bengali.
The violence took place amid protests demanding that Hindi-speaking persons be evicted from grazing reserves around the town of Kheroni.
Police resorted to tear gas and rubber bullets to control the protesters.
Director General of Police Harmit Singh told reporters that 38 police personnel were injured in the violence. Singh added that he too had been hit by a stone thrown during the clashes.
Mobile internet has been suspended indefinitely in Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong.
The number of protesters injured in the violence remained unclear.
However, PTI reported earlier in the day that at least eight persons had been injured.
Members of the Karbi community were on a hunger strike for the past two weeks, demanding that Hindi-speaking persons with origins in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh be evicted from Kheroni.
The protesters have been demanding that Hindi speakers be evicted from village grazing reserves and professional grazing reserves.
On Monday, a mob in the West Karbi Anglong district set fire to the ancestral home of Tuliram Ronghang, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the chief of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.
The council is a self-governing body set up to administer the Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. It is currently headed by the BJP.
Protesters also vandalised the shops and vehicles of non-tribals in Kheroni market. About 15 shops were torched the area.
Following the violence, the authorities in the Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts prohibited public gatherings under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita until further orders.
On Tuesday, a crowd came out to protest against the violence a day earlier despite the prohibitory orders. Demonstrators demanding the eviction of Hindi-speaking persons from the tribal belt also gathered in the Kheroni market area, PTI reported.
Stones were thrown from both sides, injuring protesters, police personnel and reporters, a police officer told the news agency. The police personnel had to baton-charge the protestors and fire tear gas to disperse both groups, he added.
Additional forces have been deployed at the site.
Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Akhilesh Kumar Singh told Scroll that protesters again set fire to several shops and establishments belonging to non-tribal residents near Zero Point.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the situation in Karbi Anglong was “very sensitive”, PTI reported. He added Ranoj Pegu, state education and plain tribe and backward classes minister, was present in the district.
The chief minister expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved soon.
Pegu had arrived in the district on Monday night. He said on Tuesday that after his appeal, the agitators agreed to call off their hunger strike, and agreed to a discussion with the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the Assam government.
Sarma will head the discussion on December 26, Pegu said.
On Tuesday, Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi said that he was “shocked and disappointed” to see visuals of the violence in Kheroni and the setting on fire of Ronghang’s home. In a letter, Gogoi urged the chief minister to control the situation immediately so that no more harm is done to the residents of the district.
The Karbi community is Assam’s third largest tribe, constituting 11.1% of the state’s 38.8 lakh tribal population, after Bodo and Mising.
In February 2024, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council ordered officials to evict more than 2,000 families from grazing land in the hills of Assam, alleging that they were unauthorised occupants of the land.
Most of those affected were Hindi-speaking residents with origins in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The action had come in the backdrop of protests and demonstrations by Karbi civil society groups against the Hindi-speaking population in the region. One such protest was followed by violence in Kheroni on February 15, 2024, when members of a Karbi students’ group came under attack allegedly from Hindi speakers.
Also read:
Why tribal groups in Assam’s Karbi hills are demanding the eviction of Hindi speakers
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!