Congress MLA from Baghabar, Sherman Ali Ahmed, has been arrested by Guwahati Police over his comments disrespecting the martyrs of Assam agitation. Ali has already been a show-caused notice by the Congress party for his comments.
Several complaints were filed against Sherman Ali Ahmed after his controversial comments on September 30 following the violence in Sipajhar during an eviction drive against encroachment. Following the complaints, today evening the Congress MLA was arrested from the MLA hostel in the capital complex in Dispur in Guwahati. The arrest was made by a team from Panbazar police station in the city, and he has been brought to the Panbazar police station for questioning.
The politician known for controversial comments had created another massive controversy in Assam when he alleged that martyrs in Assam agitation who were shot dead in 1983 were actually murderers, and they should not be called martyrs. He had said that Dayanath Sharma, brother of All Assam Volunteers Force Joynath Sharma, and others were killed when they were murdering Muslims in 1983 during the Assam agitation demanding the deportation of illegal immigrants.
‘A group led by Dayanath Sharma had gone on a shooting spree killing people riding horses, and when they ran out of bullets, they were killed by police firing to protect the people. It is not correct to call murderers as martyrs and legalise the act’, he had said, creating a massive furore in the state.
Assam agitation or the Anti-Foreigners Agitation that started in the late 70s was a movement in Assam demanding detection of illegal immigrants living in Assam, deletion of their names from voter list and deportation to Bangladesh. The movement led by All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) was largely a non-violence movement that started in 1977. But the movement had seen sporadic violence in 1983 when the central govt decided to hold assembly elections in the state without deleting the names of suspected illegal voters from the voter lists. The Nellie massacre that claimed around 2000 lives also took place during this time.
More than 800 people were killed in police actions aimed to control protests and agitations, and they are now considered as ‘Sahid’ or martyrs by the people of Assam and all major political parties. Dayanath Sharma and others, labelled as ‘murderers’ by Sherman Ali, are also given the status of martyrs.
Assam Congress had issued a show-cause notice to him for his comments, saying his comments can cause damage to the Congress party just prior to the bye-elections. The notice by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee said that his statements were politically motivated, hinting that the party believes that Ali is working to help the BJP by making controversial statements.
“As a lawmaker, your communally provocative comments in media gnawing at old wounds of the past incidents of Assam agitation when people of Assam across communities had suffered is totally insensitive and uncalled for. The APCC views your comments as politically motivated with intent to cause damage to the Congress party just prior to the bye-elections,” the show cause notice had said.
The notice added that earlier also Ali gad given communally provocative statements and gone against party discipline twice, and despite warnings from party leadership, he keeps making communally provocative comments. The notice gave him three days to reply why disciplinary action should not be taken against him.
Talking about the issue, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had slammed the Congress party for protecting Sheman Ali. He had said that issue is not Sherman Ali, everyone knows his nature, but the issue is those who protects and encourages him. Opposition MLA Akhil Gogoi also slammed the Congress MLA for comments disrespecting martyrs. He accused Sherman Ali of being a ‘BJP and RSS agent’, saying he makes such provocative comments ahead of elections to help BJP. He said that ahead of the assembly elections, he had helped BJP by creating a communally sensitive situation by demanding a ‘Miya Museum’ at the Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati.
