News Analysis India

Tag: Himanta Biswa

  • Mystery shrouds Assam CM Himanta Biswa and Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio’s closed-door meeting 

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Mystery shrouds a closed-door meeting held between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio on Sunday.

    None of them disclosed what exactly was discussed. Calls made to Rio went unattended. Sarma said issues of mutual interest were discussed.

    “Glad to have met HCM Nagaland Sri @Neiphiu_Rio at Jorhat today, along with MP Sri @KamakhyaTasa. Discussed several issues of mutual interest in order to strengthen the age-old ties & bonhomie b/w two states. We strive towards building an ever united & stronger #NorthEast,” the Assam CM tweeted.

    Glad to inaugurate the state-of-the-art auditorium built under CSR of @OilIndiaLimited with Rs 4.65 cr at Jorhat Engineering College (JEC).I thank JEC for dedicating the auditorium to ex-student Arnab Kishore Bordoloi,who lost his life in the Baghjan fire incident last year. pic.twitter.com/4hCmFNRWZN
    — Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) November 21, 2021
    The two states are locked in a bitter and raging border dispute that claimed many lives in the past. In July this year, they had signed an agreement to de-escalate tension on the interstate border.

    Sources said the duo must have also discussed issues pertaining to the Naga rebel groups as well as the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).

    The Centre has taken both of them into confidence as it tries to resolve the protracted “Naga political problem”. The peace talks with major rebel group National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN-IM have hit roadblocks as the outfit has remained adamant on the contentious demand of Naga flag and “yezabo” (constitution).

    As regards the ULFA, the Assam government is trying to reach the outfit back-channel as it attempts to initiate a peace process. The ULFA uses the soil of Nagaland as well as Arunachal Pradesh for movement to and fro Myanmar where it operates from. It works in coordination with several insurgent groups of the Northeast, including some NSCN factions.

    The ULFA went into a peace mode after announcing a three-month long unilateral ceasefire which has been extended twice.

  • Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma calls out dance reality show for racism, host issues clarification

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said racism should be condemned “unequivocally” after a contestant from Guwahati on a dance reality show was subjected to racist rhetoric.

    In a clip of Colors TV’s “Dance Deewane 3” that has gone viral on social media, the show’s host-dancer Raghav Juyal is seen introducing a contestant from the North East while speaking gibberish, seemingly to mock Mandarin, the language spoken by the Chinese people.

    When the judges, including actor Madhuri Dixit-Nene and filmmaker Remo D’Souza, ask him what he is trying to do, the host replies as he casually makes a racist remark on the young contestant, Gunjan Sinha.

    “People might not be able to understand her Chinese but they surely understand her dance,” he is heard saying in the 40-second clip. The third season of the show, which went on air earlier this year, concluded last month. The chief minister took to Twitter and said the “racist rhetoric” against the contestant was unacceptable.

    “It has come to my notice that a popular reality show host has used racist rhetoric against a young participant from Guwahati. This is shameful and totally unacceptable. Racism has no place in our country and we should all condemn it unequivocally,” Sarma tweeted.

    “Dance Deewane” was judged by Dixit-Nene and choreographers Tushar Kalia and Dharmesh Yelande. D’Souza featured on the said episode as a special guest. While there has been no official statement from the channel as yet, Juyal (30) shared a video on Instagram in an attempt to “clarify the misunderstanding”.

    The host said he wanted to share “the story” behind the small clip that is circulating on the Internet for the sake of his mental health and the people who know him. “When the children come on the show, we ask them what their hobbies are. Gunjan said ‘I can talk in Chinese, I have this talent’. And we used to laugh at the things children say. When we asked her to speak Chinese, she started talking in gibberish. From there onwards, we would ask her to speak in ‘Chinese’ on every episode or ask her to speak in the language of another planet!” he said in the video.

    According to Juyal, in the final episodes he introduced Gunjan in the same gibberish Chinese ahead of her acts on the show.

    “You will not call me racist if you’d see the whole show,” he added. The host, who has starred in films like “ABCD 2” and “Street Dancer 3D”, said he has a strong connection to the North East.

    “I have my family in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. I have friends in Nagaland with whom I’ve grown up in boarding school. I’m someone who tries to show things politically correct and who takes a stand on injustice and racism. Instead, I often get trolled whenever I take a stand for a religion, caste, culture or creed,” he said.

    Towards the end of the video, Juyal said he apologises to those whose sentiments were hurt. “I’m so sorry if I’ve hurt your sentiments. It was neither my or Colors channel’s motives that something like this happens. But before making a clip viral and judging, I’d really want you to watch the whole show,” he added.