North-East exodus: Bulk SMS, MMS banned in India

Bangalore, Aug 17: Indian government took an extreme step of banning bulk SMS and MMS for next 15 days, an announcement confirmed the news on Friday, Aug 17.

The decision of banning bulk SMS and MMS has been taken following the rumours that social media and other sources of technology have been used to threat people from North-East India.

Earlier, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil and Samajwadi Party MP Ramgopal Yadav urged the government to shutdown social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter for a few days to prevent the spreading of rumours that are prompting thousands of Northeastern students and people to flee to their home.

Mr Patil was quoted as saying, "We are requesting the central government in helping shut down social networking sites found involved in spreading rumours."

According to the rumours, some group belonging to Muslim community has allegedly threatened North-East people to leave cities or else they may have to face dire consequences. The unidentified group allegedly had given the deadline till Ramadan which will be celebrated on Aug 20.

Mass exodus continued for the second straight day on Friday with three more packed trains leaving for Guwahati. There was a commotion in the Bangalore railway stations with police trying hard to pacify the North Eastern citizens.

Similar kind of hullabaloo was seen in Hyderabad, Chennai and Mysore as well. However, assuring about their security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday stated, "At all cost we will ensure peace and harmony in the country. We would like all state governments to work with local communities to this effect."

OneIndia News