NE India paralysed by strike over conflict with Hindi speaking people

Businesses and schools were closed and roads were empty in much of Assam including the capital Guwahati in a 24-hour strike called to protest attacks on Assamese train passengers in the Hindi-speaking state of Bihar.

"All train services coming and going out of the state have been cancelled due to the strike," a police official said.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

The strike, called by the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), was supported by Assam's main separatist rebel group, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), which was among seven militant groups which Saturday threatened to attack Hindi-speaking people if they did not leave Assam.

Tensions have simmered for years between the local Assamese-speaking people and settlers from India's densely populated Ganges plain.

The rebels accuse speakers of north India's dominant language of altering the demographic balance and taking away jobs.

Two Hindi speakers were killed in attacks over the weekend in Assam with dozens injured as Assamese militants opened fire, hurled grenades and torched homes and businesses run by the rival community.

The vigilante attacks came after unemployed young men in Bihar last week stormed five trains heading to Assam, beating and injuring at least 50 people.

The mobs were angry that youths in Assam had physically prevented candidates from Bihar from taking recruitment interviews for jobs at the state-run railways.

Sporadic violence was reported Monday with student picketers assaulting Hindi-speaking people and attacking some government buses.

"We have been getting reports of attacks on the Bihari community in Assam. Security forces have been deployed in strength across the state," the police official said.

Dimapur, the commercial hub of the insurgency-wracked neighbouring state of Nagaland, was also shut down after the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) supported the strike call.

"We are extending our full support to AASU's general strike call as many Naga people were also injured in the mob violence on trains in Bihar," NSF speaker V. Phushika Aomi told AFP by telephone from Dimapur.