GUWAHATI: Congress MP and president of All India Mahila Congress, Sushmita Dev said the stopping of Trinamool Congress' MP delegation at the Silchar airport was an “overreaction”.

Dev wrote to the chief secretary T Y Das saying that the administration should have allowed the delegation if they wanted to meet people without breach of peace.

“I don’t know the implications, however, it is my humble request that if they want to meet any people without breach of peace and tranquillity the administration should allow them in greater interest of democracy,” Dev wrote to chief secretary.

Later, Dev tweeted that stopping the TMC members of parliament at the Silchar airport was a “total overreaction.”

The delegation comprising West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, MPs Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Nadim Ul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur, Ratna Dey Nag and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar MLAs and MLA Mohua Moitra arrived at Silchar airport, about 331 KM from here, on Thursday to take stock of the ground situation in the Bengali-dominated Barak valley in the aftermath of 40.07 Lakh people were excluded from the draft NRC released on Monday.

The administration imposed Section 144 in Silchar to prevent anyone disrupting peace in the state after the release of the draft. Assam DGP, Kuladhar Saikia said the prevailing peace could not be disrupted at any cost.

The state government’s action came after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee angered the people of Assam by her remarks that a large number of people left out from the draft NRC was an attempt by the BJP-led government to expel Bengalis. Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had warned that no one would be allowed to create trouble in the state through instigation.

BJP legislator Shiladitya Dev said that prevention of Trinamool Congress delegation was justified because Banerjee was trying to create a rift between communities in Assam through provocation.

“The motive of Banerjee is to fish in trouble water by creating unrest in Assam. People of Assam and the government will not allow her to do such kind of politics,” Shiladitya said.

The Congress MP had earlier said that if Banerjee was at all concerned about the exclusion of 40.07 Lakh people, her government should have expedited the process of verification of those applicants' documents the NRC authority had to send to West Bengal.

“We came to know that many documents sent to West Bengal were not verified by the West Bengal government on time. As a result, many names could not be included in the draft NRC. If the West Bengal chief minister really wants to help, then the documents should expedite verification,” the Congress MP had said.

