Students protest against the Beltola incident in Guwahati

Guwahati, Dec. 1: The Assam government today promised to recommend a CBI probe into last week’s Guwahati riots when a backlash to a violent Adivasi rally led to a woman being stripped on the streets.

Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi said he would also form an experts’ committee to build a case for the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to six tribes of the state.

Not fully convinced, the Adivasis threatened an intensified agitation if “positive steps” were not taken to accord them ST status.

It was to press for this demand that the Adivasis were marching towards the state capital, Dispur, on November 24 when some of the rallyists began destroying public and private property, including cars on the street.

As police broke them up in the Beltola locality, local mobs attacked the stragglers — men, women and children — leaving one dead and over 300 injured in hours of mayhem spread across a 3.5km stretch.

Gogoi said: “The government will not only recommend the case to the CBI, but will vigorously pursue it to ensure it is taken up by the agency and completed as soon as possible. We also want to know what happened and who are responsible. No one will be spared.”

A judicial commission and the additional chief secretary will conduct their separate probes. “There may be lapses and this will be brought out by the various probes,” Gogoi said.

He added that the government-funded expert committee would have members recommended by the communities demanding ST status.

The Adivasis, however, accused the state government of insincerity in correcting the “historical mistake” of taking the community off the ST list in the 1960s.

Five Adivasi organisations formed a core group today to lead the community’s movement. They are the Jharkhand Desam Party, the Adivasi Cobra Militants of Assam, the Birsa Commando Force, the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam and the All India Adivasi Youth Students’ Association.

The group urged the Centre to table a bill in Parliament by December 7 on granting them ST status.

The state government has appealed to all organisations not to call any bandhs or blockades from December 3 to 20 to avoid disrupting school examinations.