Assam Congress suspends MLA arrested for provocative remarks

Guwahati: The Assam Congress on Monday suspended its MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed with immediate effect for “repeatedly violating” the party’s discipline, a senior leader said. APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah, by an order, suspended Ahmed from the Congress, party general secretary Bobbeeta Sharma said. Ahmed was arrested from his official residence on Saturday for allegedly making provocative remarks in reference to the recent eviction drive in Darrang district. The Kamrup District Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Guwahati had on Sunday remanded him to two days’ police custody under relevant sections of the IPC. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee had last week slapped a show-cause notice on the MLA for “communally provocative” statements ahead of the bypolls in the state, and sought a reply from him within three days. On Sunday, the Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP) unanimously recommended that the APCC take disciplinary action against Ahmed for “repeatedly violating party discipline”, a release said. Several organisations, including the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), have filed complaints against the legislator for his remarks. The state’’s ruling alliance partner, Asom Gana Parishad, born out of the Assam agitation, had organised protests at various places, including Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Mangaldoi, Dhemaji, Tezpur, Biswanath, Nalbari, Bongaigaon, Majuli and Morigaon, and burnt effigies of the Congress MLA. An eviction drive held last month at Gorukhuti in Darrang district passed off peacefully on the first day, but was conducted amid stiff resistance by locals on the second day, leaving two dead in police firing, including a 12-year-old boy. Over 20 people were injured in the melee. Ahmed reportedly made the “communal” remarks while reacting to assertions by some leaders of the BJP-led ruling alliance that the alleged encroachers in Sipajhar area of Darrang district had “killed" eight people in 1983 during the six-year-long Assam agitation. The MLA claimed that the eight people who died in the agitation were “not martyrs, but killers”, as they were involved in slaughtering others from the minority community of Sipajhar area, where Gorukhuti is located. He had purportedly said that “the attack” on the eight people was an act of “self defence” by the Muslim population of that area.