Skip to main content

No detention camps in Assam? Gandhian activists barred from 'verifying' Modi claim

By Faisal Khan*
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared from the Ram Lila ground before the Delhi elections that there are no detention centres in the country in the context of nation wide anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests. But there were media reports of temporary detention centres being run in various jails of Assam and a permanent one being constructed in Gwalpara district.
To verify the claim of the Prime Minister a yatra was organised from Rajghat, Delhi to Matia in Gwalpara in the last week of February. At the end of the yatra a human chain was to be formed outside the under construction centre to sympathise with people who're in detention centres.
The Delhi-Assam yatra was organised by Khudai Khidmatgar, National Alliance of People's Movements, Justice Forum, Assam and Socialist Party (India) with 18 yatris**, from eight different states of India. The yatra started from Rajghat, Delhi on 23 February but was stopped by Uttar Pradesh police as soon as it entered the Aligarh district border.
The UP administration would not allow it to go through Aligarh or Mathura. Finally, on the condition that yatra would not hold any meetings on the way to Bihar, it was allowed to proceed to Kanpur and by next night it had already crossed the Bihar border from Chandauli into Rohtas.
In Kanpur the local host Mahesh, who runs a home for underprivileged children, was pressurised by the police to not let the yatra stay overnight and yatris were kept under strict police vigil in almost detention like condition. The driver of the bus was taken away for the night to police station.
The yatra was not allowed to take a stop at a Lok Samiti centre run by Nandlal in Nagepur, a village adopted by Narendra Modi in his parliamentary constituency. The yatra which was scheduled to traverse through UP over 4 days was fast tracked to cross the distance in 2 days. Police jeeps escorted it to ensure there was no contact with people or media in UP.
The yatra went through smoothly in Bihar visiting protest sites at Patna, Lakhminiya, Jalkaura, last two in Begusarai district and two meetings in Narayanpur and Kharik in Bhagalpur district. The host in Patna was Nashur Ajmal and in Bhagalpur Gautam Kumar Pritam.
In West Begal the police stopped the yatra at Samuktala in Alipurdwar district but upon arguing with the police that the West Bengal assembly has passed a resolution against CAA-NRC, they allowed it to proceed to Assam border.
Assam administration and government had made up its mind to not let yatra enter Assam. Yatris had no option but to court arrest
At the Srirampur border there was heavy police present along with para-military fully armed to take care of any eventuality. There was full media presence from both sides Alipurdwar and Kokrajhar of the West Bengal-Assam border. SDM, Gosaingaon of Kokrajhar and the district SP informed the yatra that section 144 of CrPC was in place in all three Assam districts, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Gwalpara which fell on its way and that it would have to go back.
Interestingly, contradicting the PM's statement that there are no detention centres, the District Collector, Gwalpara in his official order prohibiting the formation of human chain there admitted that there is a 'Detention Centre (under construction)' in Matia. The yatra demanded that in order to prove the PM right the detention centre(s) under construction at Gwalpara and elsewhere in country should be converted into schools or hospitals.
While the SDM and SP would not allow the yatra to proceed on the pretext of section 144, the yatris were arguing for their fundamental right of freedom of expression, free movement within the country and peaceful assembly.
The yatra was even ready to move and form the human chain in police protection and be brought back to WB border on its return. Justice Forum and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti activists of local organisations were to join the human chain in the beginning but because of the administrative order nobody was allowed to assemble at the site.
Advocate Shiv Kumar from Tamil Nadu, who flew into Guwahati to join the human chain was detained at police station in Gwalpara on 28 February and not allowed to proceed to Matia.
The administration and government in Assam had made up its mind to not let the yatra enter Assam. The yatris did not have any option but to court arrest for violation of section 144. Later in the day they were released on personal undertaking. However, it has been decided that activists part of yatra should visit the detention centre in Matia, if possible, with the help of a court order.
---
*Convener, Khudai Khidmatgar, a Gandhian NGO, prepared this report on Samvidhan Bachao, Nagrikta Bachao, Bharat Banao Yatra, from Rajghat, Delhi, to Detention Centre in Matia, Gwalpara, Assam Yatra, February 23 to March 2, 2020
**Those who participated in the yatra included Sandeep Pandey, Faisal Khan, Syed Tehseen Ahmed, Sahil Ahmed, Jawed Malik, Azam Malik, Chand Mohammad and Kartik Arora from Delhi, Balwant Yadav from Haryana, Dharamveer Singh and Mukhtiyar Singh from Punjab, Javeed Chopan from Jammu & Kaahmir, Kripal Singh Mandloi from Madhya Pradesh, Bilal Kagzi from Gujarat, and Maya Raj and Shiv Kumar from Tamil Nadu

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan   Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.
Post a Comment
»

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Concentration of wealth in India at levels 'comparable to colonial times', says new report

By Jag Jivan  A new report published in March 2026 by the Centre for Financial Accountability and the Tax The Top campaign paints a stark picture of deepening economic disparity in India, documenting a concentration of wealth that it argues is “comparable to colonial times.” Titled Wealth Tracker India | Tax the Top. Close the Gap , the compilation presents data from the World Inequality Database and the Hurun Rich List to illustrate the meteoric rise of the ultra-wealthy alongside the stagnation and debt burdens of the majority.
Post a Comment
»

Protesters in UK cities voice concerns over alleged developments in Bastar region

By A Representative   Demonstrations were held across several cities in the United Kingdom on March 28, as groups and activists gathered to protest what they described as state actions in India under the reported “Operation Kagar.”
Post a Comment
»

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah  A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.
Post a Comment
»