ISIS Flags In Assam: 6 BJP Workers Held. Anyone Surprised?

The Assam Police rounded up six members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after flags asking people to join ISIS were found in Nalbari and Goalpara districts.

Here is the sequence of events that led to the arrests:

1. According to The Wire, six flags with “ISIS NE” inscribed on them were found in Goalpara district on May 2.

2. On May 3, villagers found the flag with the message “Join the ISIS”, written in Arabic, stuck to a tree in a paddy field in Koihata area of Nalbari. They informed the nearby Belsore police station.

3. The police took out the flag and told local reporters that it would conduct an inquiry on the issue.

4. Citing local reports, The Wire noted that, on May 7, acting on a tip-off, police picked up six BJP members in Nalbari for their alleged role in sticking the flag to a tree. The members have been identified as Tapan Barman (from Kaihati), Dwipjyoti Thakuria, Sorojjyoti Baishya and Pulak Barman (from Belsore), Mojamil Ali (from Chamata) and Moon Ali (from Baruakur). Barman was a former Congress councillor who shifted to the BJP and is presently a member of its district committee.

5. Accord to NewsLive, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi lambasted the ruling BJP government in the state over what he termed “growing fundamentalist activities in Assam” and demanded immediate measures to curb any attempt to create unrest.