Guwahati: In what has charged the political atmosphere of Assam, an unruly crowd of BJP workers on Sunday allegedly attacked senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's car and camera persons accompanying the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and manhandled Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora at Jamugurihat in Sonitpur district. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered an inquiry by police into the incident.
The ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra, on its fourth day in Assam, was travelling from Biswanath district through Sonitpur to Nagaon. The attack took place before Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to address a rally in Kaliabor in Nagaon district.
Assam Congress spokesperson Bobeeta Sarma, who was travelling with the yatra, told this newspaper that the state Congress president was "manhandled and roughed up by the BJP hooligans".
After the incident, Mr Ramesh said that scores of men carrying the BJP flags in their hands surrounded his car, threw water over it and shouted anti-Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra slogans.
The veteran leader said that he kept his composure and waved to the "hooligans", who he claimed were part of an "unruly BJP crowd" and blamed the state chief minister for the "attack".
“My vehicle was attacked at Jamugurihat, Sonitpur, by an unruly BJP crowd who also tore off the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra stickers from the windshield. They threw water and shouted anti-BJNY slogans. But we kept our composure, waved to the hooligans and sped away. This is undoubtedly the Assam CM @himantabiswa's doing. We are not intimidated and will soldier on," Mr Ramesh said in his social media post.
The men also attacked the cameraman and other members of the Congress social media team, including women, the party said in another social media post.
Assam Congress spokesperson said: "The camera, badge and other apparatus of a vlogger who has been covering the Nyay Yatra were snatched. Members of the social media team of the party were also manhandled.”
She said that a BJP programme was happening in the area and some of the mediapersons had gotten off their vehicles to get some visuals.
"They created a intimidating situation for us. They have refused to return the camera of the vlogger, claiming that it was not snatched," Congress' communications coordinator Mahima Singh told reporters.
Assam Congress, in a social media post, said, “Chief minister @himantabiswa's demonic attack on APCC president @BhupenKBorah by his paid gundas is one of the worst incidents in the political history of Assam. The attack is clear evidence of fear in the mind of the chief minister.”
