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Tag: Himanta Biswa Sarma

  • ‘Sweeping floor is daily chore’: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma takes dig at Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday took a dig at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for sweeping the floor when she was detained recently in Uttar Pradesh, asking how this could be news as cleaning a room is part of anyone’s daily household chores.

    Participating in the India Today Conclave 2021 here, Sarma said that India has changed and people will not pay attention to such “stage-managed” acts of politicians. “I don’t know how come a lady sweeping the floor could be news. This is a common household practice in every family of India. I have seen my mother sweeping the floor. Have you not seen your mother sweeping the floor?” he asked.

    The chief minister said the act of Priyanka Gandhi, during her detention in Uttar Pradesh, was “staged-managed” otherwise how come a photographer was present there to shoot the video.

    Priyanka Gandhi was detained at Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh early on Monday when she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of farmers who were killed after a convoy of vehicles ran over them on Sunday.

    Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, was allegedly in that convoy and police have registered a murder case against him for the incident. During the detention at a police guesthouse in Sitapur, Priyanka Gandhi was seen in a video sweeping the floor.

    On Friday, the Congress leader made a surprise visit to a Dalit hamlet in Lucknow and picked up a broom to clean it.

    Replying to a question on the Assam government’s move to evict encroachers from government land, the chief minister said eviction process, be it against indigenous people or migrant Muslims, will continue according to the state government’s land policy. “We cannot allow 1,000 families to grab 77,000 acres of land. Eviction is an ongoing process,” he said.

    Deaths of two people and desecration of one of the bodies during an eviction drive in Assam’s Darrang district recently were condemned by individuals, political parties and social groups.

    Sarma said that many people in Assam, since pre-Independence days, believe that migrant Muslims are the root cause of many problems like the encroachment of land and losing the culture and identity by the indigenous people.

    He said efforts should be made by migrant Muslims to remove such beliefs of the indigenous people.

    Asked about his controversial comments that he does not want the votes of migrant Muslims, the chief minister said he knows that the community does not vote for the BJP and that is why he does not want to spend time wooing them.

    “I have made a deal. They will not vote for us. So, I will not campaign in their areas. But I will carry out all development works in their areas,” he said. Sarma also gave an example saying out of the seven lakh free houses to be constructed in Assam, 4.5 lakh will be of migrant Muslims.

  • Congress asks why no action was taken against Himanta for ‘Jai Bangladesh’ comment

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Congress in Assam on Sunday asked the police why no action was taken against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his “Jai Bangladesh” remark in the Assembly two years ago.

    “We won’t give protection to anyone for any act that is against the law. But we cannot accept police inaction against BJP MPs and Ministers found taking the law into their hands,” state Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said.

    “Let the organisations going after us also talk about the person who shouted the ‘Jai Bangladesh’ slogan in the Assembly. Why was no action taken against the Chief Minister?” he asked.

    The issue was raked up in the wake of the arrest of Congress MLA, Sherman Ali Ahmed for his provocative statement on the killing of eight youth at Darrang during the Assam Agitation in 1983. The statement had triggered protests in parts of the state, much to Congress’ embarrassment.

    The party served a show-cause notice on Ahmed and is likely to suspend him by Sunday night.

    Following his arrest, the MLA had demanded, “Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma should be arrested for making communal remarks”.

    In December 2019, Sarma, who was then serving as a minister, had made the statement when some members of the Opposition were protesting the introduction of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly. Later, an FIR was filed against him.

    Stating that the Constitution of India and the law have fixed accountability for the police, Borah asked, “Will the police function as dictated by the Ministers and the MLAs or the Police Act?”

    Miffed over Ahmed’s provocative statement, BJP legislator Diganta Kalita said the Congress MLA should be driven out of the state.

    “He should be driven out of Assam. Let him serve as an MLA in Bangladesh. We feel ashamed that he sits alongside other elected members in the Assembly,” Kalita said.

    He alleged the Congress MLA was working in the interest of the “Miyas” (Bengali Muslims) and not the Assamese. 

  • Ruling Assam BJP MLA terms Cabinet meeting at Dhemaji ‘unnecessary extravaganza’

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: The BJP-led Assam government’s Cabinet meet at Dhemaji in the northern part of the state on Thursday has been criticised by an MLA of the saffron party who termed it as an “unnecessary extravaganza”.

    Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, however, said since Assam is an emerging state and not a poor one, everything will be done in a “lavish way”.

    Mrinal Saikia, the two-time BJP legislator from Khumtai, had tweeted on Wednesday that though it was a good decision to hold the Cabinet meet in a remote district, he questioned the “extravagant affair”.

    “Holding of Cabinet in a remote district is great but what is the need of spending money in ‘jaakjomokota’ (lavishness) and carrying journalists from Guahati to publicise it. Decisions of Cabinet has always been welcomed by public without such extravaganza,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.

    Besides government facilities and roads getting a facelift for the occasion, fairy lights and banners were placed across Dhemaji, the MLA said.

    The chief minister, justifying the decision, said in Dhemaji on Thursday, “According to me, everything in Assam will be done in a lavish way. We are not a poor state but an emerging state.”

    “The Assamese people do everything extravagantly, that is our old practice. If we don’t put up some banners, how would Dhemaji people know that we are here?” he added.

    Sarma further said Assam has to move towards an entrepreneurship-based state from the mentality of being a poor state.

    State Parliamentary Affairs and Information and Public Relations Minister Pijush Hazarika had also tweeted on Thursday in support of the government’s decision of holding the Cabinet meeting at Dhemaji.

    “Mrinal da, you are misinformed, GOA (government of Assam) hasn’t spent a single penny to carry journalists from Guwahati to Dhemaji,” Hazarika had tweeted in reply to Saikia.

    BJP legislator Manab Deka said the arrangements at Dhemaji were made by the people on their own as the people of Dhemaji and Lakhimpur are known for their hospitability.

    The legislator from Lakhimpur, bordering Dhemaji, tweeted, “The people of Dhemaji are delighted by the decision of hosting cabinet at Dhemaji. The public of Dhemaji has organised these things by their own will. We should rather respect their sentiments.”

    Dhemaji is represented by Education Minister Ranoj Pegu in the state Assembly.

    The state Cabinet had on August 20 decided to hold one of its meetings every month in a district headquarter, with Dhemaji chosen as the first venue.

    Bongaigaon will host a Cabinet meeting in November, while the December meeting will be held in Haflong.

  • Assam eviction drive: BJP targeted people as they are Muslims, says Brinda Karat

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat said Assam’s BJP government had targeted the people at Garukhuti in Darrang district through an eviction drive as they were Muslims.

    After visiting the site and sharing the party’s findings, Brinda said the 1,000 families evicted were the citizens of India with every single document to prove it. She said although many of them were registered in the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC), yet, they were treated worse than the “prisoners of war”.

    “…This shameless government with a 12-hour notice came with a big police force, evicted them and bulldozed their houses. They did not care about women, children or anything and fired and killed two and injured so many. This happened for one reason alone – they are minority community members. They belong to the Muslim community,” Brinda said.

    Earlier, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had stated the eviction drive was not against any community but encroachers. BJP national general secretary Dilip Saikia had claimed the people evicted were “Bangladeshis” who came over the past few years and grabbed government land.

    The displaced people are now lodged in tents which they erected at a government-identified land on the bank of the Brahmaputra.

    “They are living in conditions which are unbelievable. There is no water, no latrine and no houses. There are no facilities. There is no food since September 23 till today. This is their condition. This is the worst nightmare of what a Hindu rashtra’s agenda actually is. It is anti-national and anti-constitutional and we will fight against it,” Brinda added.

    A CPI-M statement said no government officials visited the people since September 23. The party said the government deployed the police personnel at the site to intimidate the people.

    “We also saw government deployed tractors ploughing the land and sewing the land. Again without settling the claims, the government is taking illegal measures to grab the land,” the statement said.

    “It is a shame on the police present there that they remained by-standers when the most hateful and barbaric attack took place by a photographer, employed by the administration, who repeatedly jumped on the prone body of a victim. It is indeed unprecedented that not a single policeman has been held responsible for conniving with such an atrocity,” the statement added.

    Ainuddin Ahmed, advisor to the All Assam Minority Students’ Union, said the evicted people were being provided assistance by various Muslim organisations and NGOs.

  • Assam violence: Muslim organisations meet CM; two local leaders held

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A joint delegation of two prominent Muslim organisations met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday over the violence during an eviction drive in Darrang district which saw police firing, and demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the incident.

    Clashes borke out between police and alleged encroachers, resulting in the death of two persons and injuries to 20, during an eviction drive last week in Gorukhuti village in Assam’s Darrang district.

    The joint delegation of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind called on Sarma in Guwahati and expressed pain on the incidents in Darrang district and demanded that the Assam chief minister play his role in ensuring justice, a statement issued here by the Jamiat said.

    The delegation demanded a high-level judicial inquiry should be conducted into the incident, Rs 20 lakh compensation to the family of those killed by police action, Rs 10 lakh to the injured person, immediate steps for relief and rehabilitation of evicted with minimum six bighas of land for agriculture and one bigha of land for residence, proper arrangement be made for health, sanitation and drinking water and foods for those people.

    Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi, general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, who was part of the delegation, said that what happened in Darrang district was very distressing as human rights have paramount importance in the Constitution.

    The delegation included Qasmi, vice president Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Maulana Ameenul Hasan, and secretary Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Mohammad Shafi Madani, among others.

    Two local leaders were arrested for allegedly inciting violence during the eviction drive at Sipajhar in Assam’s Darrang district on September 23 in which two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in police firing and over 20 injured, an official said on Monday.

    The arrested are Shan Mahmood, president of Chanua gram panchayat, and Hasmat Ali, a former president of the Baznapathar gram panchayat and they are presently in the custody of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) which is probing the incident, a district police official said.

    “The two were arrested on Sunday night for instigating the people to attack the police during the eviction drive. They were responsible for inciting violence in the area, which left two persons dead and several others injured, including 11 policemen,” the official said.

    Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had alleged on Saturday that there is evidence that the Popular Front of India was involved in the violence during the eviction drive and has written to the Centre to ban the outfit.

    The PFI, however, denied the charge.

    He had also alleged that according to intelligence reports, six people, including a college lecturer, had collected Rs 28 lakh during the last three months from these poor landless families with an assurance they are going to convince the government that there will be no eviction.

    It is yet to be established whether the two arrested men had links with the PFI.

    Meanwhile, a delegation of AIUDF MLAs called on the chief minister and urged him to provide a proper rehabilitation package for those who were evicted.

    The package must include six bighas of land for agriculture and one bigha for residential purpose along with facilities such as drinking water, primary health care, education etc, the party said.

    “Since people are living there for decades and had a settled life, therefore, before evicting people there should have been a proper rehabilitation package for them,” according to a memorandum submitted by the party to the Sarma.

    It should also not be forgotten that these people are landless and compelling circumstances forced them to occupy the land from which they were evicted, the memorandum said.

    The AIUDF also alleged that revenue officials and other agencies gave only 12 hours’ notice to the encroachers while it is impossible for them to vacate their land with families and belongings in such a short time.

    The opposition Congress accused the BJP-led government of repressing protests by force since the state erupted against the Citienship Amendment Act in December 2019.

    Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora demanded action against the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Darrang.

    Two persons were killed and 20 others injured in clashes between police and alleged encroachers during an eviction drive in villages under Sipajhar revenue circle on Thursday.

    The Darrang district administration has so far cleared 4500 bighas of land and evicted 800 families since Monday and demolished four ‘illegally’ constructed religious structures at Sipajhar.

    The chief minister had visited the place on June 7 and inspected the riverine areas allegedly encroached by “illegal settlers” near Dholpur Shiva temple and directed the district administration to clear the area for the government to start a community farming project.

  • Two with suspected Popular Front of India links held for Darrang violence

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Two persons with suspected links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the recent violence during an eviction drive in Assam’s Darrang. 

    The arrested Chand Mamud and Ashmmat Ali are the president of Sonowa Village Panchayat and former president of Bojona Pathar Village Panchayat respectively.

    “We arrested two persons last (Sunday) night and are verifying their links with the PFI. Our investigation is on,” Darrang Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma told The New Indian Express.

    A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the duo for criminal conspiracy, instigating violence and mobilising crowds on that day.

    On Saturday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had stated that the PFI visited the site of violence, prior to the day of the incident, in the name of distributing food items to the evicted families. The violence had left two persons dead and several others injured.

    Meanwhile, the state’s two principal opposition parties – Congress and minority-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) – are locked in a war of words for failing to protect the interest of the landless people who have been evicted.

    ALSO READ | Have proof for involvement of outsiders in Darrang havoc: Assam CM

    AIUDF legislator Karim Uddin Barbhuiya slammed the Congress for failing to give one bigha of land to each family despite a promise.

    “While serving as the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi had himself stated that each of the families would be allotted one bigha of land. The Congress did not fulfil the promise despite using these people for 40 years,” Barbhuiya said. 

    He added, “The AIUDF doesn’t do politics with the blood of the Miyas (Bengali Muslims). Our people died. (State Congress chief) Bhupen Bora and Himanta Biswa’s people had not died. The Congress has no business to enact this drama.”

    The Congress accused the AIUDF of toeing the ruling BJP’s line.

    ALSO READ | Police bullet cuts short ‘bright’ Assam teenager’s life

    “The AIUDF is speaking the language of the BJP for the fear of facing action. That’s why it is attacking the Congress. If there were no AIUDF, we would not have this problem,” Congress leader and former minister Rakibul Hussain said.

    The migrant Muslims in Assam are considered the AIUDF’s vote-banks. The leaders of AIUDF and some minority organisations met the CM on Monday and discussed the Darrang incident.

  • Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma bats for increased use of green fuel

    By PTI

    GUWAHATI: The Assam government has been encouraging maximum use of green fuel to reduce environmental damage, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

    He was speaking during the signing of an MoU between Punjab National Bank and the Assam Bio Refinery — under which it will provide loans to farmers and purchase bamboo to produce bio-ethanol, an official release said.

    Terming the agreement as a “good beginning”, he said on Saturday that it will encourage and empower the farmers to cultivate bamboo and help in producing green energy.

    Assam’s Ethanol Production Promotion Policy, which was approved by the state cabinet on August 4, seeks to incentivise production of ethanol from all permitted feedstock, the release said.

    Assam is the second state in the country to have introduced such a policy.

    The Assam Bio Refinery Pvt Ltd, a joint venture company between Numaligarh Refinery Ltd and two Finnish companies – Fortum and Chempolis, is developing India’s first bio-refinery to produce cellulosic ethanol from bamboo biomass, it said.

  • Assam eviction drive: Himanta hints at PFI role, says some people collected Rs 28 lakh from landless

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: The Assam government has got evidence about the involvement of certain individuals in Thursday’s violence in Darrang district during an eviction drive against land encroachers.

    Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the elements had mobilised people and created havoc. He said they had collected Rs 28 lakh from the poor and landless families of Darrang in the last three months saying that they would convince the government against eviction.

    “When they could not resist the drive, they mobilised people and created havoc. We have the names of six people with clear intelligence that Rs 28 lakh was collected,” Sarma told journalists in Guwahati on Saturday.

    He said prior to the day of the incident, the Popular Front of India had visited the site in the name of distributing food items to the evicted families.

    ALSO READ | ‘Where did 10,000 people come from?’: Assam CM Himanta on Thursday’s violence

    “The pieces of evidence are now emerging, indicating the involvement of certain people, including a college lecturer of Assam. The government is enquiring the matter,” the CM said.

    “The eviction drive was carried out for 60 families. Where did 10,000 people come from? I think we will get a lot more explosive information once the judicial probe begins,” he said.

    According to the government’s policy, a landless person gets six bighas of land in a village but on certain conditions, the CM said. He said he had told the leaders of All Assam Minority Students’ Union in two meetings that the government would go ahead with the eviction drive and sought a list of the landless people but it was not given.

    Giving an example of how serious the problem of land encroachment in Assam is, he said the amount of land under encroachment in the state was more than the size of Goa.

    He attacked the Congress for its criticism of his government on the issue. Either the Congress has not been able to understand the language of the Assamese or it has bidden adieu to the community thinking that it is, in any case, going to be a minority in 10 years and the votes of the Assamese will hardly have any value, Sarma said.

    He accused the Congress of “exporting” people to other constituencies to try and capture those seats by changing the pattern of population.

    “They (Congress) want to weaken the Assamese and India. Barchalla and Sipajhar Assembly seats are their next targets. The encroachers in Barchalla are from Dhing and Rupahihat constituencies,” Sarma claimed.

  • ‘Where did 10,000 people come from?’: Assam CM Himanta on Thursday’s violence

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma suspects the hand of a third party in Thursday’s violence during the eviction drive at Dholpur No 3 village in Darrang district.

    “The eviction drive was nearing its end and there was no problem till Wednesday. Only 60 families had to be evicted but 10,000 people swarmed to the site to put up a resistance. Where did they come from? Who brought them?” Sarma wondered.

    He said this was the reason why the government ordered a judicial inquiry, to be headed by a retired Judge of the Gauhati High Court, into the incident.

    He lamented that the incident occurred despite his assurance to the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) that all the landless people would be provided with six bighas of land.

    “During a meeting with AAMSU leaders, I had told them that as per the government’s policy, every landless family will be allotted six bighas of land. I had also said that we cannot give land to those who own land elsewhere. They all accepted it,” Sarma said.

    He said some families were occupying land measuring up to 300 bighas. He said the land of even a Shiva temple was also under encroachment. “Do people grab the land of a temple? If this continues, the land of Kamakhya temple will be encroached tomorrow. How can we accept that?” Sarma asked.

    He condemned the act of the administration-engaged photographer, who had stomped on an injured and has been arrested since, but asked people to not judge the incident merely based on this short duration viral video. “I ask the Congress leaders to sit with me and watch the entire video footage. They will see how some 10,000 people came armed with sticks and spears and attacked the policemen,” Sarma said.

    He rejected the demand of the Opposition to suspend the Darrang District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, who incidentally is his younger brother, saying, “They followed my orders”.

    ALSO READ | 2 killed during Assam eviction drive, CM says action came after armed encroachers attacked cops

    Earlier in the day, a Congress delegation from Guwahati visited Darrang and staged a protest outside the DM’s office.

    In a memorandum submitted to Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, the party demanded that the judicial inquiry be headed by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court. It also demanded that the eviction drive is kept in abeyance until an appropriate rehabilitation plan is made public.

    “The cameraman and the police personnel, who were stationed and took part in the whole barbaric act, should also be accorded exemplary punishment. Moreover, those deceased and those injured should be adequately compensated,” the Congress demanded.

    Further, it demanded an all-party meeting along with stakeholders to strategise and plan a rehabilitation and compensation programme for the people.

    “Congress party feels that the CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma despite holding a constitutional post, taking an oath to serve and protect all citizens has behaved in a biased manner by constantly giving provocative statements which have made matters worse. His statement of giving full authority to police to do encounter firing had also given license to kill and has dangers of turning Assam into a police state,” the memorandum reads.

    The AAMSU and some minority-based organisations had jointly called a 12-hour bandh in Darrang where an uneasy calm prevails.

    The government, which will use the land being cleared of for agricultural purposes and imparted training to some 500 indigenous youth in farming, including piggery and pisciculture for the purpose, has decided to deploy additional paramilitary forces to Darrang.

  • Police bullet cuts short ‘bright’ Assam teenager’s life

    Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Abdul Khaleque is a mere farmer belonging to a farmers’ village – Dholpur No 2 – on the north bank of the Brahmaputra in Assam’s Darrang district.

    It was not just his dream but the aspiration of fellow villagers that his “bright” teenager son, Sheikh Farid, will one day educate himself and bring fame to the nondescript hamlet.

    The Class 9 boy became famous on Thursday after his life was cut short by a police bullet during an eviction drive.

    He was one of the two persons killed when a mob of protestors clashed with the police at neighbouring Dholpur No 3 village, 4 km from Dholpur No 2. “He was a bright student. We all thought he would make us proud someday but the police killed him without any provocation,” Khaleque told The New Indian Express with his eyes welled up.

    Farid was the youngest of four siblings. His three brothers slog in the field to support the family of six. Stricken by poverty, most families in the village prefer engaging their children in farming to sending them to schools.

    ALSO READ | Congress urges Assam Governor to stop Darrang eviction till rehabilitation announced

    Khaleque said he had no idea Farid had gone out to see the eviction drive. He had lost the ground under his feet when a villager broke the news of the teenager’s death. “We have a democratic right to stage a protest but the police fired indiscriminately,” he said as his wife was crying inconsolably.

    The neighbours have kept visiting the house to stand by the family at this hour of grief.

    Khaleque said a lot of locals from Dholpur No 2 village had gone to Dholpur No 3 village on Thursday, worried over an impending similar drive in their village.  “The villagers have remained tense for the past few days as they fear their village could be targeted next. So, a lot of them had gone to see how things unfold there amidst the protest,” Khaleque said.

    He said he would not have allowed Farid to go there if he had any idea about the child’s plan. “The government has taken the life of an innocent boy. We will not get peace in mind till justice is delivered,” he said.

    Moinul Hoque, 32, was the other person who fell to a police bullet. He had lost his cool after his minor daughter was allegedly beaten up by the police. He had charged at a group of policemen with a stick but they shot him down at point-blank range. “He and his family members were vacating the house when some cops entered the house and beat up his daughter. This enraged him and he attempted to attack the personnel,” Ainuddin Ahmed, advisor to All Assam Minority Students’ Union, said.

    Hoque, a farmer, was the lone breadwinner in the family of eight. He left behind his parents, wife, three children and a sister.