ASSAM-The Tinsukia Flare-Up

ECONOMIC AND POLlTlCAL WEEKLY ASSAM The Tinsukia Flare-Up TENSION had been building up amongst Tinsukia's labourers and rickshaw- pullers mostly from Bihar and eastern UP since the morning of June 27, as rumours spread that one Kailash Rai, an employee in the firm of Satyanarayan Purshuttam, had died after being severely beaten by his employer. It is now generally believed that Kailash Rai is not dead but alive, and that he was kept hidden by certain interested persons in order to blackmail those who had beaten him up. The government too has denied that the man has been killed but it has not been able to say where he is. Thus, Kailash Rai's where- abouts still remain a mystery. The story, put together from many sources, broadly runs as follows.