MoS Rajen Gohain chides ex-teacher for criticising bad roads in Assam's Nagaon town, faces protests

Nagaon (Assam): A former teacher in the district earned the wrath of Rajen Gohain apparently for highlighting the poor condition of roads in his locality at an event in Nagaon, as the Minister of State for Railways chided him for “raising the issue in public”. The incident took place during a Swachh Bharat Abhiyan event and was covered by local TV channels. A video clip of the incident went viral on social media sparking off protests on Tuesday. People gathered in front of the Union minister’s house in Nagaon and protested against his remarks. [caption id=“attachment_4462105” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain. News18 Hindi[/caption] During the event, the teacher, who was present on the stage as one of the senior citizens of Nagaon, was speaking about the poor road condition in the area. “You can come with me to see the real condition of the roads, then you can decide if I am speaking the truth or not,” he said. A visibly agitated Gohain interrupted the teacher asking, “Why are you raising such issues? What benefits are you trying to draw? You have come with an ill motive.” “If you have any complaint you should have approached me personally and not in front of the public. What nonsense!” he went on to add. The man then took a seat in a row behind the minister’s. However, Gohain walked up to him and was seen having an animated talk. The minister’s remarks evoked strong protests from school teachers and students, who burnt effigies of Gohain in front of his house in Nagaon town and shouted slogans demanding that he publicly apologise to the teacher for “humiliating” him. Gohain was unapologetic when asked by reporters during the day in Nagaon if he would apologise. “Why should I?” he shot back to queries.