Bomb hurled at BJP office in Meghalaya protests against Bill
Shillong: Miscreants hurled petrol bombs at the state headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in Meghalaya late on Sunday night, a police official said on Monday.
No one was injured in the attack but the windows of the office chamber of state BJP President Shibun Lyngdoh were damaged.
The petrol bomb attack comes amid the protests against the Modi government’s bid to get the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed in Parliament.
The Bill aims to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship of India.
“We were informed that the incident occurred at around 11.20 p.m. and a fire engine doused the flames,” Superintendent of Police (Shillong City) Stephan Rynjah told IANS.
A team of forensic experts on Monday visited the BJP headquarters to collect samples and took possession of the CCTV footage capturing the incident.
BJP legislator and Health and Family Welfare Minister Alexander Laloo Hek, who visited the party office, demanded the immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
“We don’t know the reason behind this cowardly attack which is totally unacceptable,” Hek told IANS.
On the other hand, a group of activists under the banner of Confederation of HynAiewtrep Social Organisation staged a protest in front of the BJP’s office demanding that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill not be passed.
The activists shouted slogans like “Modi government down down” and asked Bangladeshis to go back to their country.
CoHSO Chairman Robertjune Kharjahrin said the Citizenship Amendment Bill was a threat not only to the indigenous tribals in the NorthEast but a national security threat as well.
“If Bangladeshis are more important than the NE people in the eyes of the NDA government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he should become the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,” Kharjahrin said.