Exodus of NE people continues

It was disturbing to see the picture of a large number of people from the northeast jostling with one another to find a place on trains leaving Chennai and Bengaluru for Guwahati.

Even as the governments stepped up their efforts to assure people of the northeastern states living in other parts of the country of their safety, the exodus of these people continued for the third day.

Meanwhile, to check the spread of rumours, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs Friday banned bulk SMSes and MMSes for 15 days. More than five SMSes or MMSes cannot be sent from a particular number at a time.

The Karnataka government arrested six people on charges of attack, intimidation and sending “false” SMSes to the people of the region.

The exodus followed clashes in Assam in recent weeks between members of the indigenous Bodo tribe and Muslims who killed more than 50 people and left 400,000 in displacement camps. The violence has spilled to other states where Bodos and other ethnic tribe members from the poor northeast have migrated in search of jobs.