Guwahati, Oct 1 : The Assam Congress on Friday served a show-cause notice to its MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed for his reported “communally provocative” comments referring to the September 23 violence, in which two persons were killed and 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police during an eviction drive in Darrang district of the state.
The 54-year-old Muslim leader’s comments have led to a widespread political controversy across the state with various organisations lodging complaints at different police stations, besides organising demonstrations in many districts demanding action against him.
In the show-cause notice to Ahmed, Assam Congress General Secretary Bobbeeta Sharma said that the MLA’s “provocative comments and statements” have damaged the reputation and credibility of the AICC and the state Congress.
“You are acting as an ‘agent of the BJP’ due to your closeness to the Chief Minister (Himanta Biswa Sarma).You might have been sponsored to make such provocative and communal comments to cause harm to the Congress, especially ahead of the by-elections in the state,” Sharma told Ahmed.
Asking the MLA to reply to the show-cause notice within three days, she said that his “provocative comments and communal statements” also appeared in various media outlets, creating serious confusion and resentment within and outside the party.
Ahmed, a former MLA of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a Muslim-based party, got elected to the state Assembly thrice from Baghbar in Barpeta district of western Assam.
Sharma in her notice in Assamese said: “As an MLA, your provocative comments in the media, reviving old wounds of the past incidents of Assam agitation when people of various communities had suffered, are totally insensitive and unwarranted.”
“You time and again have given statements in the media and various public platforms against Congress’ policies and matters with communal implications, damaging the social harmony of Assam,” Sharma said.
Senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia, who’s also the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, said in a separate statement that Ahmed’s comments and communal statements would definitely affect peace and harmony in the state, besides hurting the basic principles of the party.
The Asom Gana Parishad, born out of the Assam agitation, held demonstrations in different districts, including Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Mangaldoi, Dhemaji, Tezpur, Biswanath, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Majuli and Morigaon, and burnt effigies of Ahmed.
The AGP is the main partner of the ruling BJP in Assam.
Earlier, Ahmed had allegedly made remarks while reacting to statements by some leaders of the ruling BJP that the alleged encroachers in Sipajhar area of Darrang district “had killed” eight people in 1983 during the Assam agitation (1979–1985).
He had alleged that the eight people were “not martyrs, but murderers”, as they were involved in the massacre of people from the minority community in the Sipajhar area.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and a few other organisations have also filed complaints against the controversial MLA at different police stations.
Two persons, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and 20 others were injured after a mob clashed with the police during an eviction drive in Assam’s Darrang district on September 23.
The eviction drive was launched by the police and the district administration to vacate 4,500 bighas (602.40 hectares) of government land, allegedly illegally encroached by several hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslim families in Darrang
.
