The Hindu : Permission to UMF meet cancelled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 09, 2003

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Other States - Assam

Permission to UMF meet cancelled

By Barun Das Gupta

A sant holding a trident at a VHP rally in Guwahati on Sunday. — AFP

GUWAHATI June 8. The Assam Government today allowed the international secretary of the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Praveen Togadia, to hold a "Virat Hindu Sammelan'' while cancelling the permission earlier given to the United Minorities Front (UMF) to hold a meeting.

The VHP meeting was held in a public field while the UMF meeting, the open session of its 18th conference, was scheduled to be held in the meeting hall of the district library, 3 km away.

The UMF president, H.R.A. Choudhury, said that permission to the UMF had been given by the district authorities two months ago. But it was suddenly withdrawn on Saturday night on the plea that because the VHP was holding a meeting today, the holding of the UMF meeting the same day might create an "undesirable situation.''

However, the UMF meeting was held in spite of the withdrawal of permission. Speakers accused the Tarun Gogoi Government of adopting "double standards" and trying to sow "seeds of discord between Hindus and Muslims."

At a press meet here on Saturday, Mr. Togadia demanded that India should "forcibly occupy some areas of Bangladesh" and push there the "five million illegal infiltrators'' living in Assam. He declared today that the VHP would distribute one lakh "trishuls" in Assam by November 24.

Meanwhile, the renewed campaign by the BJP to repeal the IM (DT) Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act has created apprehension among the minorities. Over a dozen BJP heavyweights including Union Ministers are now in the city to attend the Northeast zonal meet which began on Friday. The UMF convention demanded that fencing on the Indo-Bangla border should be completed speedily to prevent infiltration.

Secondly, if the IM (DT) Act is at all repealed, a law should be enacted to prevent arbitrary deportation of genuine Indian citizens.

Lastly, it demanded the drawing up of a new National Register of Citizens (NRC) to identify those who entered Assam after March 25, 1971. The first NRC was prepared in 1951.

PTI reports:

"The demography of Assam is changing. Ultimately, the State will be forced to become a part of a "greater Bangladesh" and the fate of Hindu Assamese will be like that of Kashmiri Hindu Pandits," Mr. Togadia told reporters on Saturday.

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Permission to UMF meet cancelled