IN Tinsukia, Assam, five Bengali speaking Dalit labourers, Subal Das, Shyamol Biswas,  Abinash Biswas, Dhananjoy Namasudra and Ananta Biswas, have been massacred by an unidentified group.

This massacre takes place in the backdrop of an intense hate campaign against alleged 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrants', orchestrated by the BJP which rules Assam and the Centre. BJP national president Amit Shah in a recent speech referred to those excluded from the National Register of Citizens exercise that is ongoing in Assam, as 'termites'. The BJP is pushing a campaign for a Citizenship Amendment Bill that will, effectively be a 'Hindu Rashtra Bill' which makes Hindu identity a basis for offering citizenship to immigrants/refugees while refusing the same to non-Hindu migrants/refugees from neighbouring countries.

The BJP state Government of Assam has failed to ensure the safety of people in the State, leaving them vulnerable to such horrific hate campaigns and violence. It has done nothing to ease the pressures and uncertainties of the NRC exercise which have pushed a large number of persons to commit suicide.

The BJP and its Central and Assam Governments has the blood of the five Tinsukia massacre victims on its hands.

Prabhat Kumar, for CPIML Central Committee