Former Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang said tha there has to be some truth in reports of students being attacked in southern states and these can not be brushed aside as mere rumours.
“These reports of attacks on northeastern students and subsequent threats of further reprisal cannot be brushed away as mere rumours,” Lapang, who is also the Chairman of the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC), told journalists.
NECCC is the apex body of the Congress party in the northeastern states.
Lapang has also written to union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde expressing “concern and deep anguish” over the reported attacks and threats.
He urged Congress leaders to render all help to northeast students and take appropriate stand on the threats and the reports of the attacks.
“What rumours? Do you think the 1,100 students who have returned to the region did so without reason? The affected state governments must admit the reported attacks and threats instead of merely brushing them off as rumours,” Lapang said.
“Why would students from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Maharashtra, flee if the situation was normal,” Lapang asked.
He added: “The attacks and the circulation of SMS maybe a well-planned exercise of some political parties or agencies to gain political mileage.”
Meghalaya is sending a fact-finding delegation to the states concerned.
“It is a matter of concern and such incidents would have serious ramification in the long run,” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said.