Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says the recent Arya Nagar controversy in Guwahati was deliberately amplified to distract the public from other major state issues. Speaking following a Cabinet meeting, he specifically pointed to the ongoing Nalbari encounter investigation and the dispute regarding a beef tiffin incident in Goalpara.
The Chief Minister argued that while the Arya Nagar event was initially portrayed as an ethnic clash between Assamese and Bihari groups, investigations suggest it stemmed from an extortion dispute rather than communal tensions. The incident involved protests against alleged illegal drug activity and resulted in injuries to police and media personnel.
Sarma suggested that focusing on Arya Nagar serves to pull attention away from the fatal police shooting of Roz Ali in Nalbari. Police officials stated that Ali, a suspect in the murder of a student leader, was killed after he reportedly snatched a service rifle and fired at officers during a weapon recovery operation.
The Chief Minister also linked this distraction tactic to the controversy in Goalpara, where a minor student and his mother faced legal action after beef was allegedly brought to a government school. Regarding the media narrative surrounding these events, Sarma stated, "the incident was being amplified in public discourse" despite its suspected origins in criminal extortion.
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