A panel discussion at the Constitution Club of India was interrupted for approximately a quarter of an hour when members of Hindutva-affiliated groups stormed the venue, brandishing placards and chanting slogans against the event’s premise. The gathering, meant to spotlight the plight of displaced individuals in Assam under the banner “People’s Tribunal on Assam: Eviction, Detention and the Right to Belong,” was forcibly interrupted during the evening session.
Among those taken by surprise were prominent civil society figures and activists—including Harsh Mander, Syeda Hameed, Prashant Bhushan, Jawhar Sircar, Wajahat Habibullah, Ritumbra Manuvie, and Fawaz Shaheen—who had travelled from Guwahati, Goalpara, and Kamrup earlier in the month to document displacement and detention practices. One protestor claimed the panelists threatened national security, while slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram,” “Vande Mataram,” and “desh ke gaddaron ko goli maro” rang out as roughly 30 to 35 demonstrators entered the hall.
The intrusion caused a noticeable disruption, with activists describing the moment as “regrettable,” particularly given the security-sensitive location. Syeda Hameed expressed dismay that such an event could be halted within a venue like the Constitution Club. Activists from the team that had conducted field visits relayed accounts that affected families had received little to no due process—some reported being asked to vacate their homes within 48 hours and faced demolition drives without time to present land documentation.
One volunteer from the protest claimed affiliation to a nationalist organisation and invoked rhetoric that focused on safeguarding “Assam’s culture and pride.” They argued there would be no tolerance for what they described as “infiltrators.” Legal counsel for displaced residents noted that families, some of whom possessed records showing generational residence dating back to 1948, now live in makeshift shelters without support for education or rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, authorities confirmed no formal complaints were lodged and no arrests were made during or after the incident.
Questions now linger over the right to free expression and the integrity of spaces meant for civil debate. Observers argued that if demonstrations can disrupt a panel featuring well-known figures at a high-security venue in the capital, the rule of law may be undermined. Activists cited escalating rhetoric—from labelling floods “flood jihad” to describing rising food prices as “fertiliser jihad”—as indicators of intensifying polarisation in public discourse.
Despite the tension, the assembly reconvened after the interruption and continued as planned, while the spectre of displacement and detention in Assam remains at the centre of this and future discussions.
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