GUWAHATI, Dec 22: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma minced no words to slam Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kirti Azad for his Twitter post on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s traditional attire at a public event during the latter’s visit to Shillong recently.
The TMC leader had posted on the micro-blogging site a photo of the Prime Minister wearing traditional attire, along with a picture, apparently photoshopped from a website, of a woman wearing the same ‘multi-floral embroidered dress’.
“Neither male, nor female. Only a worshipper of fashion,” Azad said in his tweet, which he later deleted after it drew flak from several quarters.
Reacting to the tweet, the Assam chief minister said: “It is saddening to see how Kirti Azad is disrespecting the culture of Meghalaya and mocking our tribal attire. TMC must urgently clarify if they endorse his views. Their silence will amount to tacit support and thus will not be forgiven by the people.”
Asked about the tweet by media persons on Thursday, the chief minister said, “I will request people like Kirti Azad to refrain from doing things which will alienate this region again from the mainland of the country. So these are unpatriotic things. It is against the interest of India.” “They (some people from mainland India) don’t know the culture, customs and attire of the Northeast…this is the reason why the country has faced so much turmoil in the past 70 years…Now the process of nation building has started. People of the Northeast have realised that we are a part of the nation. People from other states also realise that the Northeast is a very important part of this country,” Sarma said.
The chief minister also invited the former MP to visit the Northeast and explore how vibrant it is.
“I not only condemn Kirti Azad, but would like to invite him to the Northeast…come and see how vibrant we are and how the Prime Minister respects the Northeast and feels so comfortable with the people of the region…You (Azad) come and see how we have contributed to building this great nation,” the chief minister said.
“Tweet (of Azad) is not important …It is about the mindset which is dangerous….Here is a former MP, now part of a political party, who does not know how to respect the people of Northeast…They want to expand to Northeast…they want votes from NE but don’t want to respect the culture of the region,” he said.
“After 2014, for the first time, people of the Northeast are feeling confident and reassured…that here is a Prime Minister who respects us, loves and adores us. People like Kirti Azad should not spoil this moment …It is against the concept of India,” the chief minister said.
