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BJP’s action “Murder of Democracy”: Debabrata Saikia

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 08:39:43 +0000

The BJP led Government in Assam has removed Debabrata Saikia, the leader of the Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP), from the post of Leader of the Opposition in Assam Legislative Assembly on January 1, 2021. The decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was notified by a Gazette notification on the same day, but it came into the public domain allegedly only on January 4, that too after office hours!

The Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP) has strongly opposed the decision taken by the BJP government. Reacting the entire development, Debabrata Saikia said, “Whatever action has taken by BJP is nothing but murder of democracy. The decision neither has any justification nor it has any constitutional validity. ACLP will go the court, if the notification is not revoked. BJP is frightened of the popular support towards Congress. So, they are trying to malign us by unconstitutional and unprecedented action.”

It may be mentioned that, Debabrata Saikia, son of former Chief Minister of Assam Late Hiteswar Saikia, is strong voice against BJP in the present political context in Assam. He is the most popular leader of Assam Congress, for his people-oriented activities, relentless campaigns against anti-people policies of BJP government, and courageous actions against communal propaganda of BJP and its allied organisations. Due to uncompromising and courageous stand against BJP, Debabrata Saikia has become a thorn in the side of the BJP in Assam. But, the manner in which the BJP removed Saikia has revealed how spiteful the party can be.

Firstly, from the Gazette notification, it appears that decision was not taken following all constitutional norms. As per “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Assam Legislative Assembly”, it is stipulated that “Leader of the Opposition” means the Leader of the largest recognised party in the opposition and recognised as such by the Speaker. But the Gazette Notification of Government of Assam No: LLE 8/ 2016/ 883 dated January 1, 2021 says, “The present strength of Indian National Congress Legislature Party in Assam Legislative Assembly is not equal to the quorum fixed to constitute a sitting of the House, that is one-sixth of the total number of Members of the House as required under the aforementioned provisions and therefore, the Hon’ble Speaker, Assam Legislative Assembly, has been pleased to withdraw the recognition of Shri Debabrata Saikia, MLA, as Leader of the Opposition, Assam Legislative Assembly w.e.f. 1^st January, 2021.” Hence, question arises, whether the number of the Members of ACLP has fallen to less than one-sixth of the total number of the Members of Assam Legislative Assembly or not? Let us find out by taking a closer look at the numbers.

The Assam Arithmetic

In the 14^th Assam Legislative Assembly, the Congress won 26 out of a total 126 seats in 2016. Just after the election, one Congress MLA Mansing Rongpi resigned from the Assembly and re-elected as BJP MLA from Baithalangsho. Thus, number of Congress MLA reduced to 25 in the initial period itself. In 2019, another Congress Legislature Abdul Khaleque, got elected to Lok Sabha from Barpeta parliamentary constituency. The seat he vacated, Jania was later won by AIUDF.

After that, two veteran Congress MLA Pranab Gogoi, former Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly and Tarun Gogoi, former Chief Minister of Assam passed away, by-polls for their seats couldn’t be held. Another two Congress Legislators, Ajanta Neog and Rajdeep Gowala resigned a few days ago from state Assembly to join BJP. Thus, number of members of Congress party in Assam Legislative Assembly has now been reduced to 20. But at the same time, the strength of Assam Legislative Assembly has been reduced to 122 from 126.

Likewise, AGP Legislator Pabindra Deka and BPF Legislator Emanual Muchahary resigned from state Assembly to join AJP and BJP respectively. Another, BJP MLA who was elected to state Assembly in the bye-poll of Rangapara Constituency post parliamentary election in 2019, Rajen Borthakur too died recently. All these seats are lying vacant. Thus, the present strength of Assam Legislative Assembly is 119.

Now, the strength of Assam Congress Legislature Party is 20, which is enough number to prove one-sixth of the present strength of Assam Legislative Assembly. Thus, it proves that the initiative taken by BJP government just before 4 moths of State Legislative Assembly election is nothing but a political revenge against Congress and to diminish the image of Debabrata Saikia.

Assam Congress demands justice

Meanwhile, ACLP General Secretary Durga Bhumij, who is MLA from Doomdooma, strongly protested the removal of Debabrata Saikia as Leader of the Opposition. In a letter to Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly, he pointed out that in Chhattisgarh, BJP has only 14 MLAs in a 90-member House, where BJP Legislature party Leader Dharamlal Kaushik has been recognised as Leader of the Opposition. In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh State Assembly, SP has 48 Legislators, where SP leader Ram Gobind Choudhry is acting as Leader of the Opposition. In the 294-member State Assembly of West Bengal, Abdul Mannan of Congress has been recognised as Leader of the Opposition, though Congress has just 23 members there. In the 70-member State Assembly of national capital Delhi, BJP has only 8 MLAs but its leader, Rambir Singh Bidhuri has been recognised as Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly. The Congress MLA demanded to revoke the decision and to restore Debabrata Saikia as Leader of the opposition.

Congress MP Abdul Khaleque said, “BJP is undermining the constitutional provisions.” He further said, “Debabrata Saikia must be reinstated as Leader of the opposition in Assam Legislative Assembly.” AICC Secretary and former MLA Bhupen Borah on the other had said, “The decision to withdraw the status of Leader of the opposition from Debabrata Saikia is nothing but a pressure game of BJP. Congress will never compromise to any actions of BJP to diminish our constitutional values. People will treat them strongest lesson to such unconstitutional and immoral actions.”

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Take action against communal FT member, those defaming Syed Abdul Malik in Assam: Debabrata Saikia

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 07:14:45 +0000

Image Courtesy:sentinelassam.com

In fresh developments in the case regarding a highly communal official letter written by a member of the Baksa Foreigners’ Tribunal to the Assam Health Minister, the Leader of the Opposition of the Assam Assembly has now written to the Assam Police Accountability Commission (APAC) demanding action.

Debabrata Saikia, in a letter addressed to chairman of the APAC Deba Kumar Nath, has referred to the letter dated April 7, 2020 by Baksa Foreigners’ Tribunal member Kamlesh Kumar Gupta to Assam Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma offering donations collected from other FT members. This letter however stipulated that none of the funds be used for providing relief to people who contracted the virus at the Tablighi Jamaat event organized in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz in March. Gupta had used words like “jehadi” and “jahil” to describe such people in his letter.

The letter that gave details of donations made to the Assam Arogya Nidhi by various FT members from Baksa, Silchar, Morigaon, Kamrup, Barpeta and Karimganj, said, “Our only prayer is that the help may not be extended to the members of Violators Tablighi Jamaat, Jehadi and Jahil.”

Outraged by this blatant display of communal hate, on April 16, Abdul Khaleque, an MP from Assam’s Barpeta Lok Sabha Constituency, wrote to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal demanding Gupta be fired from his post as an FT member. In his letter Khaleque says, “By referring to member of one religious community (Muslims) as ‘Jehadi’ and ‘Jahil’ in writing that was widely circulated on Whatsapp and other media, the officer concerned has clearly stoked disharmony, ill-will, feelings of enmity and hatred between different communities, in the region and in the whole nation.”

Now, Saikia has raised concerns about the same FT member. But Siakia’s letter contains are request to address another pressing concern. Since April 21, a portion of an Assamese poem by noted writer-poet-playwright Syed Abdul Malik, had been quoted out of context and circulated widely on social media. Malik was not only a Padmashree awardee and former Member of Parliament, he was well known for bringing out the beauty of Assam’s composite culture in his works.

This blatant defamation of Malik and resulting vilification of Muslims needs to be nipped in the bud. Saikia urges that action be taken in this matter as well. In the latest development in this regard, multiple FIRs have been filed against a college teacher who uploaded the first three stanzas of the poem on social media dubbing them as ‘glorification of Mughals’.

Saikia’s complete letter may be read here:

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Modi misrepresenting historical facts: Debabrata Saikia

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 07:38:19 +0000

Image Courtesy: sentinelassam.com

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi, allegedly distorted facts about the Nehru-Liyaqat agreement in Parliament, Debabrata Saikia, who serves as the leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly has issued a statement not only condemning the PM’s remarks, but also setting the record of history straight.

Saikia says, “Leaders of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah, are continuing their effort to lead people astray by misrepresenting historical facts. The latest manifestation of this campaign was seen in the Lok Sabha yesterday, when Mr. Modi dragged in the name of former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in a bid to justify the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA).”

He further said, “Mr. Modi has referred to the agreement for safety of minorities and protection of their rights in both countries, which was signed in 1950 between Pandit Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, and raised a question as to why the former Prime Minister of India had used the term ‘religious minorities’ in the pact. The answer is very simple. Barely three years had elapsed then since Partition of the country, and antagonism and violence along religious lines prevailed both in India and undivided Pakistan. It was precisely for the reason of ensuring safety of common people in either country that both Prime Ministers felt the need for the pact in question.”

Saikia added, “Anyone who has even minimal knowledge of undivided Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh knows that the concept of ‘linguistic minority’ is not relevant when it comes to these countries. For instance, in the western part of Pakistan Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs etc. spoke then, and still speak today, chiefly in Punjabi. The conflict between these communities was based on religion, and not language. Similarly, Hindus and Muslims in erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh shared/share the same mother tongue, i.e. Bengali. Consequently, it is irrelevant to use terms like ‘linguistic minority’ in the context of these countries.”

Referring to Modi’s remarks on the letter written by Nehru to the then Chief Minister of Assam, Saikai sheds further light on the context saying, “Mr. Modi has referred to a letter written by Pandit Nehru to the then Chief Minister of Assam, Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, as also certain comments made by Pandit Nehru in Parliament in 1950, and asserted that the former Prime Minister was in favour of granting Indian citizenship to refugees from undivided Pakistan. It is true that being the great humanitarian that he was, Pandit Nehru spearheaded the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955 and created a category of East Pakistan Displaced Persons and re-settled them in what is now known as the C.R. Park area of New Delhi. On top of that, a ‘Dandakaranya Project’ was launched to rehabilitate them in undivided Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, undivided Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman Islands. However, this project was not successful mainly because the refugees were reluctant to leave states like West Bengal and Tripura, where they found linguistic affinity.”

He further clarifies, “It is to be noted that the policy of rehabilitating religious minorities in India was pursued by Pandit Nehru with reference to the situation created during Partition of the country and its immediate aftermath. This was not a perpetual policy.” He added, “Pandit Nehru and other leaders had adopted a short-term policy regarding refugees in view of the unique situation created by Partition. However, the situation in Pakistan or Bangladesh is not such today that hordes of religious minorities are fleeing en masse to India as refugees after facing atrocities.”

The entire statement may be read here:

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Disclose name of Bangladeshi legislator from Cong or face legal action: Saikia, Assam

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 07:44:42 +0000

Image Courtesy:scroll.in

Guwahati, January 9, 2020: The leader of the opposition and the Congress legislature party in Assam, Debabrata Saikia has dared BJP strongman and minister of state for finance and health, Himanta Biswa Sharma to disclose the name of any person from the Congress fold who is a Bangladeshi national or of Bangladeshi origin. The statement of Debabrata Saikia comes hours after Himanta Biswa Sharma alleged that 90% of the Congress legislators in Assam are Bangladeshi! Himanta Biswa Sharma had made the allegations yesterday (January 8) while attending a BJP rally at Dhemaji in upper Assam. He is reported to have said, “Ninety % of the Congress legislature party in Assam is Bangladeshi. They may be citizens, but their forefathers came from Bangladesh. They are of Bangladesh origin. “

Taking strongest note of the false and fabricated statement of Sharma, Saikia added, “thesame people who have created a hue and cry around the existence of Bangladeshis in Assam, are today propagating that Congress has 90% ‘Bangladeshi’ MLAs in the state. Like “Ashathama hoto” he has also tried to salvage his own falsehood by explaining that “may be they are citizens but their forefathers have come from Bangladesh”. This is nothing short of a move to extricate himself from facing legal action. But, I have gone through his statement seriously. I have found that his statement is not only false and fabricated, but it is illegal in the eyes of the law. There are enough points to haul him up legally. We will not spare him for constantly resorting to such propaganda,” said Debabrata Saikia talking to SabrangIndia.

“There is no legislator from the Congress, who has any sort of relation with Bangladesh. Bangladesh was formed on March 25, 1971. Not even a single MLA nor their forefathers have come to Assam after the formation of Bangladesh. There maybe some Congress MLAs with forefathers from erstwhile East-Bengal who came to Assam from undivided India before 1947. They have migrated from one province to another within the same country which was then undivided India. No one can insult them or humiliate calling them “foreigners” nor by tagging them to a country which was born 50 or 100 years after their migration. I challenge Himanta Biswa Sharma to name and prove that any MLA from the Congress who is Bangladeshi or Bangladeshi origin.” Debabrata Saikia further said, “if Himanta Biswa Sharma fails to disclose any name of a Congress MLA who is either a Bangladeshi or Bangladesh origin, he owes an apology to the people of Assam. Or else, all Congress legislators will knock the door of judiciary to take legal action against these derogatory remarks of Himanta Biswa Sharma. ”

Just two days ago, Himanta Biswa Sharma had even claimed that the AIUDF MLA, Ananta Kumar Mallo, belonging to the Badaruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF has come to Assam from Bangladesh after 1971”. On this, Debabrata Saikia said, “if Ananta Kumar Mallo has come to Assam after 1971, the speaker of Assam legislative Assembly must inquire and take necessary action in this regard.”

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