The situation in Assam, which has been reeling under protest over the newly-enacted citizenship law, has improved immensely, the police said on Monday morning.
“We thank the people of Assam for following the spirit of the law,” the police said, according to news agency ANI. The police also said that day curfew has been withdrawn in Guwahati from 6am; night curfew, however, would remain from 9pm till tomorrow 6am.
Meanwhile, internet services which were to remain suspended till Monday morning, have been extended for another 24 hours, in 10 districts – Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Kamrup, authorities said.
“Now the situation is normal as compared to earlier. It is true that in the first two days some incidences of violence took place but the relaxation in curfew, that too on the demand of public clearly shows that situation is fast returning to normal,” said Union minister Jitendra Singh, who holds the Independent charge as Minister of State (MoS) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
Assam had been on the boil for the past few days as thousands of people came out on the streets to protest against the amended Citizenship Act. The protesters engaged in pitched battles with the police across various cities, forcing the administration to impose curfew.
At least four people have killed in police firing, while an oil tanker driver was charred to death when his vehicle was set on fire.
Apart from Assam, the protests have raged Tripura, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and national capital Delhi.
Authorities have shut down internet access in several parts of some of the affected states in an attempt to maintain law and order.
Modi, speaking at a rally in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Sunday, blamed the opposition Congress party and its allies for inciting violence against the citizenship law.
The Congress party in turn slammed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Twitter saying, the government “has failed at its duty to maintain peace in the nation.”
A highway connecting West Bengal and Assam was blocked in several places on Sunday when protesters burnt tyres, demanding the law be scrapped. Violence was also reported in Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar.
