Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 12 Aug: The 36-hour bandh from 12 August that had been announced by the All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU) – which it eventually called off on Sunday evening – had made the government jittery, scrambling around to ensure security arrangements in and around the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR).
The last-minute intervention by the Nyishi Elite Society resulted in the ANSU calling off the bandh, thereby averting a major confrontation between paramilitary forces and ANSU agitators.
Sources in the home department informed that nearly 60 companies, including 25 odd paramilitary forces,had been requisitioned to maintain law and order if the bandh had been imposed.
The 60 companies, comprising nearly 4,000 security personnel, were deployed in the ICR. The government also shut down the internet for three hours, and later sought to justify it by saying that the step was taken in apprehension of law and order breakdown.
“All measures were taken considering the law andorder situation, which might have arisen had the bandh been imposed. The internet shutting order was lifted as soon as the bandh was called off by the ANSU, and the security personnel were relieved the next morning,” said an officer.
The bandh had been declared by ANSU president Nabam Dodum, claiming that the government did not address the union’s 10 demands, including repealing of the Arunachal Pradesh District-Based Entrepreneur and Professional (Incentive Development & Promotion) Act, 2015.
Though the majority of the ANSU’s executive members, including its general secretary Gora Rikam, had opposed the bandh, Dodum had drummed up unprecedented support on social media.
