One day after the ULFA openly warned “Hindi-speakers” asking them to pack their bags, reports of stray attacks on Biharis in several places in Assam poured in. The attacks are seen as a reaction to the assault on Assam-bound trains in Bihar by youths angry at being stopped from taking a railway exam in Guwahati.With passengers complaining of molestation of women, Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi finally took some action and transferred District Magistrate Gautam Goswami and SP M.R. Naik of Munger, where the Brahmaputra Mail was attacked today. She also spoke to her counterparts in the North-East and promised action against erring officers, adding people were free to go and work anywhere.The Centre too sought to allay misgivings regarding the railway recruitment process, asserting it was done in a ‘‘fair manner’’. There is ‘‘no regional or linguistic distinction for recruitment to any post as far as eligibility of the candidates is concerned’’, the Government said in a statement. What seems to be worrying the Centre is the spread of violence to Assam. At Naharkatiya in Dibrugarh district, a group of students and youths assaulted some Biharis on their way to Tinsukia to appear in another railway recruitment test scheduled for Sunday. Police in the district said no complaints had been lodged by anybody.In Guwahati, miscreants set afire six huts belonging to some Bihari milkmen close to Gauhati University campus last night. Though nobody was injured, several milch cows perished in the fire. There were also reports of stray assaults on Bihari vendors in some districts.With the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) calling a state-wide bandh on Monday over the attacks on trains, supported by the All Bodo Students’ Union, Assam has sought the Centre’s intervention and beefed up security. Assam CM Tarun Gogoi has written to PM Vajpayee and sought special protection for passengers. The ULFA had asked the Bihari population to be prepared to leave. Seven underground groups, including ULFA, Kamatapur Liberation Organisation and the Manipur People’s Liberation Front, today issued a statement condemning the attacks on train passengers from the region in Bihar. These passengers included students from Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The North-East Students’ Organisation said girls were either raped or molested, and there was some tension in Aizawl as one of these girls reportedly is a Mizo.‘‘The incidents are proof that the Indian colonisers want to use North-East as a dumping ground for extra population of the country apart from pushing unemployed people,’’ the groups said. In Guwahati, Kohima and Imphal, students burnt effigies of Nitish Kumar in protest against the ‘‘systematic deprivation’’ of unemployed youth and for ‘‘encouraging’’ attacks on people on trains. Rabri cracked down on Munger district officials as they were accused of delaying action for almost eight hours after the Brahmputra Mail attack. Even afterwards, the DM and SP are reported to have tried to dismiss the matter lightly. About 32 passengers, mostly students from Assam, are said to have been injured. RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav claimed the attackers have been identified and would be given exemplary punishment. ‘‘If another problem of strife between the states is added, the situation will go from bad to worse,’’ he said. The Board has been holding recruitments for about 2,750 posts in the ‘D’ group for Northeast Frontier Railway for the past few days, and the AASU, AJYCP and other organisations complain that most candidates invited for the interviews are from Bihar. This is believed to have prompted the attack. Around 20,000 youths from Bihar had gathered for the exam last Sunday. Interestingly, the Board and NF Railway have been silent on the number of candidates called for the interview.
