GUWAHATI: The proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) has reacted strongly to the action of Sarbananda Sonowal-headed government in Assam for registering a case of sedition against well-known scholar and intellectual Dr Hiren Gohain.
Condemning the government’s move, ULFA (I)’s self-styled c-in-c Paresh Baruah has warned Chief Minister Sonowal for filing sedition case against scholar Gohain.
“If Chief Minister Sonowal does not refrain from such anti-Assamese acts, he will have to face dreadful consequences,” Baruah told a local TV channel over phone.
“Every citizen has rights to register protest in a democratic state. Taking to street during the crisis of a nation can never be tantamount to sedition,” said the ULFA (I) chief.
Earlier on Thursday, Assam police registered a case of sedition against renowned scholar and intellectual Hiren Gohain besides Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) chief Akhil Gogoi and activist and journalist Manjit Mahnata.
A case (no 15/2019) under sections 120 B/121/123/ 124 A (sedition) of the IPC was registered at Latasil Police Station in the city against Gohain over the speech he had made at a public meeting in Guwahati on Monday in registering opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Asom Basaok, a platform of prominent intellectuals, writers and journalists, observed “Dhikkar Divas” (Condemnation Day) against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 at Guwahati Club in Guwahati on Monday.
Addressing the programme, Gohain had said that if the central government failed to pay any heed to the opposition of the people of Assam against the Bill, demand for ‘independent Assam’ would crop up.
Meanwhile, Hiren Gohain in his reaction said that he was not surprised at the government’s action.
“Indian state is used to such acts. The speech, I delivered at the meeting that day was not completely appeared in media. Only some distorted lines of my speech were published in the media,” said Gohain.
The All Assam Students ‘Union (AASU) Adviser, Dr Samujjal Bhattacharrya has termed the government’s action as ‘sheer misuse of power.’