GUWAHATI, April 28 (PTI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a new entrant to Assam politics, on Thursday staged state-wide demonstrations against price rise coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the northeastern state.
Police detained several AAP members who were protesting in Guwahati, while demonstrations were also staged in Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Dhubri and Tinsukia.
“Our members organised protests across the state over the price rise issue,” AAP Assam unit president Bhaben Choudhury said.
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“The protestors at Guwahati were detained by the police and are in the process of being released. But they faced harassment during the detention,” he said.
Choudhury said some of the party members sustained minor injuries when they were being forcibly taken away from the protest venue.
Police said the protestors, who were detained from near the state secretariat complex, were being released on Personal Recognisance bond.
“The procedure of law has been followed. They are being released on PR bond as is done in such cases,” an officer said.
AAP leader Rumi Ullah claimed that passersby had joined the demonstration at Guwahati and said, “Price rise is an issue that affects everyone. People are fed up with it and they spontaneously joined our protest.”
She said demonstrations were also staged in Dibrugarh, Dhubri and Tinsukia, while in Golaghat, the party submitted a memorandum to the district administration over the price rise issue.
As the party expanded its footprint across the nation after storming to power in Punjab and winning an assembly seat in Goa, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had also recently tasted its first electoral victory in this northeastern state.
Its candidates had emerged victorious in two wards in urban body polls in March, while it bagged one ward in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation election this month.
The AAP had been contesting Lok Sabha as well as Assembly elections in Assam for a few years, but hadn’t been able to make a mark yet.
