Tinsukia killings TMC team to visit Assam today

Kolkata: A Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation, comprising senior leaders, will visit the families of those who were killed in Assam's Tinsukia district by suspected militants.

It has been learnt that a four-member team will be leaving for Assam on Sunday morning and they will be speaking to the family members of the five Bengalis who were shot dead on Thursday evening.

On Friday evening, in a tweet of the Trinamool Congress it was stated that "In the next couple of days, a delegation of Trinamool MPs/MLA will visit the families of those brutally killed in Tinsukia. Humbly, our party will stand by the grieving families and assist them at this difficult time."

The delegation will be headed by Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien. Trinamool Congress MP Mamata Bala Thakur and Rajya Sabha MP Nadimul Haque will be in the delegation as well.

It may be mentioned that within a few hours of the incident at Tinsukia in Assam on Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reacted sharply condemning the incident. She had tweeted: "Terrible news coming out of Assam. We strongly condemn the brutal attack in Tinsukia and the killing of Shyamlal Biswas, Ananta Biswas, Abhinash Biswas, Subodh Das."

She had raised a question stating that "Is this the outcome of recent NRC development?"

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had earlier lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre stating that people were becoming refugees in their own country because of the party's "vote politics". Her statement came after exclusion of 40 lakh people in the final draft of the Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) in July.

Expressing her condolence, Banerjee tweeted on Thursday: "We have no words to express our deep sorrow to the grieving families. The perpetrators must be punished at the very earliest..."

She had further stated: "In protest against the brutal killings in Assam @AITCofficial will organise protest rallies tomorrow (Fri Nov 2) in different parts of north and south Bengal including Siliguri and Kolkata."

Rallies were organised in Kolkata on Friday protesting against the brutal killing of the five Bengalis. From there, Abhishek Banerjee, All India Trinamool Youth Congress president and party's MP, demanded an inquiry by the Supreme Court into the Assam massacre. A black banner with "Shame" written on it was carried by workers.

Addressing the rally, Abhishek said: "After yesterday's (Thursday) incident, we feel that there should be a court-monitored probe into the incident as we cannot rely on CBI which is busy with its own issues."