Guwahati: A delegation of the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress on Saturday lodged an FIR against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at Dispur police station over an alleged hate speech during a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh last Tuesday.
The state Mahila Congress delegation, led by its president FIR Mira Borthakur Goswami, alleged in the FIR that “the Assam chief minister tauntingly invited former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath, and a prominent politician belonging to the Indian National Congress, to burn down 10 Janpath, in a similar manner as Lanka was burnt down by Lord Hanuman.”
“The speech was made in order to spread communal hatred by bringing in Hindu religious sentiments into play,” the FIR, addressed to the officer-in-charge of Dispur police station, read.
The Congress delegation stated in the FIR that “10, Janpath is the residence of Smti Sonia Gandhi, a Member of Parliament and former President of the Indian National Congress. Smti Gandhi is the wife of former Prime Minister of India, Late Rajiv Gandhi. As such, the call for burning down 10, Janpath is an open invitation to the public to indulge in arson and riots by using Hindu religious sentiments”.
On Thursday, senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia had also filed an FIR against the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the alleged “hate speech”.
“I am constrained to lodge this FIR on account of the banal and hateful statement given by Sri Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam on September 19, 2023 during the Jan Ashirwad rally in Vidisha district, Madhya Pradesh,” Saikia, who is also an MLA from Nazira Assembly constituency, stated in the FIR lodged at Nazira Model Police Station in Upper Assam’s Sivasagar district.
“In a country governed by the rule of law, Sri Sarma has taken electoral rhetoric to its ugliest form. While taunting Sri Kamal Nath, a prominent member of the Indian National Congress about his Hindu identity, Sri Sarma has directly suggested that 10, Janpath should be burnt.”
Saikia further alleged in the FIR that the Assam chief minister had “given a clear instigation towards violence and arson.”
“Be it stated here that 10, Janpath is the residence of Smt Sonia Gandhi, a Member of Parliament and the former president of the Indian National Congress. Smti Gandhi also happens to be the widow of the former Prime Minister of India. By suggesting that the residence of a 77-year-old lady be burnt down, Sri Sarma is not just attacking a prominent face of the Opposition, but he is giving a clarion call towards arson. Such wanton statements coming from a constitutional authority have the potential of causing misguided persons to resort to violence and potentially cause harm to the residents of 10, Janpath,” the Assam Congress leader stated in the FIR.
“This is a clear instigation towards rioting and abetment of arson on the part of Himanta Biswa Sarma and he is liable to be booked under Sections 153 and Sections 115/436 of the Indian Penal Code,” the MLA stated.
He further stated that though the statement by the chief minister was made in Madhya Pradesh, it has been widely circulated across the media and accessible in Assam.
“Accordingly, the effects of the instigation and violent rhetoric are felt within your good office’s jurisdiction. I, therefore, implore you to register an FIR and take necessary action in this regard,” Saikia stated in the FIR addressed to the officer-in-charge of Nazira Model Police Station.
Meanwhile, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president (APCC) Bhupen Kumar Borah has requested Nath, who is also the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president, to file an FIR against the Assam chief minister in Madhya Pradesh.
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In a letter to Nath, the APCC president wrote: “This is unacceptable. Any practising Hindu knows that Sita was kidnapped to Lanka by Ravan. By making the statement, what is Shri Sarma trying to say? That former Congress president Sonia Gandhi–the present occupant of 10 Janpath–has kidnapped someone and kept him/her forcibly in her house/garden? “
“The Supreme Court of India, on April 28, 2023, has directed all states and Union Territories to register cases on their own against those making hate speeches. In reference to this case, we have already filed a FIR against the chief minister in Assam. I request you, or the Madhya Pradesh Congress legal department, to do the same in your state. The regular hate-spewed utterances of the Assam chief minister should not go unchallenged,” Borah stated in the letter to the MPCC president.
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