Eight SFI, DYFI members detained for Agnipath protest in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The police detained about eight protesters of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), student and youth wings of the CPM, for taking out a protest march here on Monday in response to a nationwide call by various organisations against the Centre’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme.
The protesters had barely marched a kilometre from Chandmari here when they were detained. The protest was led by secretariat member of the all India executive committee of the SFI, Sangeeta Das. Similar protests were held in Jorhat, Nagaon and other towns but there were no reports of clashes with the police. The CPM, in a statement said that the Assam Police have started a crackdown across the state against the leaders and leading activists of the SFI, DYFI and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) to “suppress a peaceful democratic protest”.
“Strangely, the police did not spare even CPM leaders. In fact, notwithstanding its strong opposition to the 'Agnipath' scheme, the party was in no way connected to today's protests organised by some mass organisations,” said Suprakash Talukdar, secretary of the CPM’s Assam state committee.
Talukdar was served a legal notice on Monday morning by the officer-in-charge of the Panbazar police station under the Guwahati Police Commissionerate. The notice dated June 19, 2022, ordered that the “bandh call” be withdrawn. The CPM alleged that the police was working at the behest of the Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, to intimidate opposition forces and suppress dissent and democratic protests.
“Actually, the call for bandh was concocted by the police. Our party didn't give any call for protest today. Similar legal notices were served on a large number of district level leaders of the SFI and DYFI,” he alleged.
On Sunday, the police picked up SFI state secretary Nirangkush Nath from the Dirak area under Tinsukia district. While state Kisan Sabha secretary Tiken Das was detained in Jorhat, CPM state secretariat member Nayan Bhuyan was tracked down by the police in Kokrajhar Town at midnight. They were released later.
The Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti, the student wing of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, once led by peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, is also mobilising the youths against ‘Agnipath’ in the state.