GUWAHATI: Assam Congress on Monday lodged an FIR against cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly trying to create religious tension between two communities through a “misleading statement and false Facebook post”.
Congress accused Himanta of “falsely claiming” that at Silchar Airport, some people shouted “Pakistan Zindabad” a few days ago, while welcoming AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.
“He (Himanta) claimed that at Silchar airport some persons shouted ‘Pakisthan Zindabad’ while welcoming a political leader. Subsequently, the said Facebcok post was flagged by the Facebook authorities as the third party fact checkers found the content of the post to be false and fake. The said accused person repeated the said false allegation in different public forums,” said the FIR lodged at Bhangagarh police station.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) general secretary Ranjan Bora in the FIR alleged that the minister has a habit of making “communally sensitive remarks” and in the present case he made such remarks allegedly with an intention to promote enmity between different communities which has the potential to create disharmony between different groups.
Congress alleged that uttering such “false statements” is an offence under Section 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code. They also mentioned in the FIR that a case be registered against the minister under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. “It will be pertinent to mention herein that, the said accused person has a habit of making loose and communally sensitive statements and at a time when assembly elections is round the corner such statements can create communal tension. Therefore to maintain peace, the arrest of the said accused person is of utmost importance so that he can be restrained from indulging in activities prejudicial to communal harmony,” read the FIR.
Meanwhile, Himanta reacted sharply, accusing Congress president Ripun Bora of bowing down before Ajmal. “Why Ripun Bora has to react to my statement on Ajmal? Ripun Bora is acting as an agent of Ajmal,” he said.
Congress workers exchanged verbal spats with police officials at the Bhangagarh police station, alleging that the police were refusing to hand over the received copy of the FIR to them. “It’s a bias on part of the police. They were not even ready to give us the received copy of the FIR,” said a senior Congress leader. Police said that inquiry was initiated after the FIR was lodged. However, a case was yet to be registered till the filing of this report late in the evening.