A delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders on Sunday met the families of five Bengali Hindus who were killed in Tinsukia district last week and gave Rs 1 lakh each to the families as compensation, ANI reported.
The delegation is led by Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’ Brien. Lok Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haq and MLA Mahua Moitra are also part of the delegation, reported PTI. The delegation arrived in Dibrugarh on Sunday morning and travelled to Tinsukia.
“This is a humanitarian visit,” O’ Brien said. “This is a visit to stand with the grieving families.” He tweeted that it was one of the “saddest days in public life”.
The party in a Facebook post said members of the families and a Trinamool Congress leaders will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind. An appointment has been sought from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it said.
The delegation also assured the families of all help and promised that the Trinamool Congress will stand by Bengalis in Assam, NDTV reported. The party also promised to raise the killings and the alleged atrocities against Bengalis in Assam in the Parliament.
Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government has taken the Trinamool Congress delegation’s visit positively since any political party has the right to visit victims of an attack. Sarma said it was time for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to help the BJP find a solution to the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The delegation’s visit comes after Banerjee condemned the attack and asked if it was “the outcome of recent NRC development”.
On Thursday, unidentified gunmen suspected to be members of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) killed five people and injured one in the district’s Kherbari village. Earlier in the day, police personnel detained its leader Jiten Dutta in connection with the attack. The militant group, however, has denied its role in the attack.
The All Assam Bengali Youth Students Federation called for a 12-hour shutdown in Tinsukia and other parts of the state on Friday, while the Congress called for a shutdown in Cachar district. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress staged protests in several parts of the state on Friday.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal claimed that “inflammatory statements” by political leaders and a section of the news media and social media had led to the killings.
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