GUWAHATI: Congress workers are going to attend former CM Tarun Gogoi’s funeral in Navagraha crematorium on Thursday, with several party leaders accusing the BJP-led government of “lacking the willingness” to allot a plot of land in the city centre in Guwahati for the cremation.
Even as senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday clarified that Assam PCC president Ripun Bora and Gogoi’s family members agreed to the cremation of the former chief minister at the Navagraha crematorium, many in the Congress camp are upset at the BJP-led state government for non-fulfilment of their demand.
“As a party, we raised the demand for a separate plot of land for his (Gogoi’s) cremation. The government should have taken the responsibility like in the case of Bhupen Hazarika. We did not want to go against the will of the family and ultimately agreed on Navagraha. But since the government has not given any commitment on constructing his memorial, our party will preserve his ashes and soon start construction of a memorial,” Bora told the media on Wednesday.
Contrary to Bora’s views, Himanta said the decision for the cremation at Navagraha was taken as per Gogoi’s family’s wish, which he said is their personal matter.
The senior minister said Gogoi’s family preferred the Navagraha crematorium over a plot of land near Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Amingaon in north Guwahati. “The government was bound to respect the opinion of the family, so far as selection of the cremation site is concerned. There should not be any controversy over this,” Himanta added.
He said the location at Amingaon is not a neglected place and the government could have granted up to two bighas of land for future development of the cremation site. “The government could not even find a suitable plot for the cremation of Bhupen Hazarika in the heart of the city, where it’s very difficult to find such vacant space,” said Himanta, adding that the site identified by the government is not far from Bhupen Hazarika’s memorial adjacent to Gauhati University and near the Kamrup deputy commissioner's office.
Congress MLA from Gogoi’s home district Jorhat, Rupjyoti Kurmi, however, said though Gogoi’s family does not want to argue with the government regarding the place of cremation, Gaurav Gogoi initially wanted his father’s cremation in a separate location at the centre of Guwahati. “We did not ask for a huge plot of land. But we just wanted one katha land in a prime location of Guwahati to build a museum and memorial in Gogoi sir’s memory,” he said.
Revenue minister Jogen Mahan had said the state decided to allot about a bigha of land at Numalijalah revenue village in Amingaon under Kamrup district for the cremation. He said one katha land, as demanded by some Congress leaders, is not enough to cremate a leader of Gogoi's stature.