Tura, July 28: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma reassured that any arrest and action taken against those culprits involved in the Tura mob attack would strictly be based on evidence.
Sangma, however, refrained from taking a political angle on the attack made against him while he was meeting with NGOs and other stakeholders on the demand for winter Capital and the implementation of the roster system in a retrospective manner.
“I want to make this very clear that anybody who will be arrested will be arrested purely on the basis of evidence. What had happened was not correct. I had gone there with a positive intention and had never agreed to go there to their location, but thinking of how it would be wrongly misconstrued and thinking that if it helped the cause, I decided to go there to talk to them and find a way forward,” mentioned Sangma.
The chief minister reiterated that he will not go by political parties but that everything will be based on evidence. He also stated that the NGOs were certain that none of those present there during the attack were from their organisation. “From all statements, there were external agencies present who were not connected to the group there. Those sloganeering happen to be from political parties. We are not going by political parties everything and will be based on evidence. If a person, based on proof, was involved in inciting, action will be taken against the individual,” added the chief minister.
He also recalled that they had taken precautionary measures when Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh was in Garo Hills since they had witnessed a bike rally with black flags.
Sangma informed that he had instructed the police to use minimum force and control the crowd without excessive force.
“We had intel that there was a crowd, but it wasn’t unexpected that they would go to that extent and make an attack on the chief minister. We had expected some aggression and that we would be able to talk to them,” stated the chief minister.
He also expressed unhappiness about how the police were attacked and that even an ambulance that was taking the injured personnel was also attacked.
Stating that what had happened was unprecedented, the chief minister mentioned that they will now wait for the police to investigate, nab the culprits, and find out the purpose of their attack.
So far close to 40 people have been arrested. Several people were injured due to the stone pelting and several vehicle were damaged.
“Ministers and civilian vehicles were damaged, and a police vehicle was also burned,” said Sangma.
When asked about the statement made by TMC leader Dr. Mukul Sangma that the police are working at the behest of political leaders, the chief minister said that it was the police who defended him and that they did not harm him. They did their job very well.
“Being a former chief minister he should understand the role of the police, the job they are doing, sacrificing their lives and condemning them is not right to make such statements,” added Sangma.
The Meghalaya Chief Minister refused to blame it on intelligence failure, stating that it’s so easy for people to blame it on intelligence failure. He said that there has been a lapse and that he will try to correct it since it is a complicated situation.
Asked if they would relook into his security, Sangma said that he had spoken with the Director General of Police, Dr. LR Bishnoi, and he had mentioned it. Sangma said that he has not gone into details and that it has a process that it will follow in its own manner and in an independent process.
