A dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Bajrang Dal and backed by the BJP, ABVP, VHP and Hindu Yuva-Chatra Parishad disrupted normal life in Assam, while the police arrested several hundred bandh supporters in different districts on Friday. The bandh was called demanding arrest of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) leader and Lok Sabha member Badruddin Ajmal over his alleged role in recruiting Muslim youths from Assam for jihadi training in Bangladesh. Shops, establishments, educational institutions and banks remained shut, while public transport remained off the roads. Bandh supporters tried to disrupt railway movement too, but the police removed picketers to clear the tracks. Attendance in government offices remained thin, with state home commissioner GD Tripathi saying disciplinary action would be initiated against those government employees who remained absent today. "There was no major untoward incident except stray cases of stone-pelting at vehicles in some districts," he said. Meanwhile, Ajmal, also president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s state unit, however has denied the charges and demanded a high-level inquiry into the allegations. Currently in New Delhi, Ajmal is likely to meet prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh today. He had already met Kiren Rijiju, MoS Home on Thursday. The allegations against Ajmal, Lok Sabha member from Dhubri in western Assam, were first leveled by a New Delhi-based satellite TV news channel, but were soon picked up by the BJP and other sangh parivar organizations. Demonstrations against Ajmal and his party have rocked Assam for the past two days. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) too has joined the campaign and organized a torch rally today evening demanding a thorough investigation into the allegations. The regional party has blamed both, the former Congress-led regime and the present BJP-led NDA for the rise of fundamental forces and spread of jihadi tentacles to the state in the recent years.
