India Tomorrow
Guwahati, Jan 19— An FIR has been lodged against state minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly making communal remarks against Muslims during a TV show.
Finance, Health and Education Minister Dr Sarma, during a talk show at Assamese TV news channel DY365 on Jan 16, had allegedly made some ‘unconstitutional, false, communal and illegal’ statements. The Barpeta District Youth Congress, in its FIR lodged on Jan 18 at the Manida police outpost in the district, has alleged that the minister had talked about ‘Bangladeshi Muslim foreigners’ in the Baghbar Assembly constituency despite the fact that over 90% population of the constituency has been included in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), said The Shillong Times.
The FIR has been signed by 21 members of the Congress’ youth body including its local president Anwarul Islam Khan.
“How can a dignified minister say 90,000 Bangladeshi Muslims are staying in Baghbar when 95% of there have been included in the NRC,” Khan was quoted by The Hindu.
During the TV show, the minister had also alleged that Moinbari Satra, a Vaishnavite monastery, was shifted to Sarbhog area due to ‘aggressive behaviour’ of local Muslim community. The FIR says that the minister’s statement is completely false. It says that the monastery had to be shifted due to river erosion and local Muslim population provided all possible help in shifting it to the new location in 2005.
