Tinsukia killings: city intellectuals take out protest rally

Prominent intellectuals of the city took out a rally here on Sunday to protest against the recent killing of five Bengali speaking people in Tinsukia district of Assam.

Such attacks are aimed at creating fissures among different communities, the speakers said at the rally.

Poet Subodh Sarkar said those behind the gunning down of five innocent persons at Kheronibari village in Assam wanted to polarise people along communal lines.

He called for defeating the gameplan of such forces and save the country.

Eminent economist Abhirup Sarkar said people of West Bengal will stand united against sectarian and divisive forces.

If such attacks were not checked, the country will face a grave crisis, Sarkar said at the rally held beside the Academy of Fine Arts in the central part of the city.

Painter Suvaprasanna condemned the attack on the poor people and asserted that Bengal would stood by them in such hour.

Singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay, film personality Dipankar Dey were among others present at the protest organised by a forum of intellectuals, close to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Unidentified gunmen in battle fatigue shot dead five individuals, including three members of a family, near Kheronibari village in the district on Thursday night.

A four-member TMC delegation met family members of the five victims in Tinsukia on Sunday.

On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed anguish over the killings and said an "environment of violence" was prevailing in the country.