The 18-party United Opposition Forum in Assam on Thursday upped the ante against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma by seeking his sacking by the President for his “hate speeches" and “gross violation of the Constitution”.
The Forum general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said they met governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and submitted a four-page memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu “demanding the immediate dismissal of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on charges of attempting to incite communal conflict”.
The submission of the memorandum to the President through the governor comes a day after the Opposition Forum, which is led by Congress state president Bhupen Kumar Borah, lodged a joint complaint with the city police demanding the registering of a case against Sarma and his co-conspirators for “trying to promote enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and race”.
The Opposition memorandum on Thursday sought the dismissal of the chief minister by flagging the prevailing law and order, especially after the “gangrape” of a minor girl last week in Dhing, leading to widespread protest and the issuance of a seven-day deadline on Friday for Miya Muslims to leave Upper Assam and the chief minister asserting in the Assembly that he “won’t allow Miyas to take over Assam” and his targeting of a Muslim reporter, among others.
The memorandum said Sarma has tried “to whip up a communal frenzy” over the “dastardly” Dhing gangrape case “by targeting the Muslim community, which led to an attack on some people belonging to a religious minority in Sivasagar by BJP workers and leaders”.
The three accused in the case belong to the Muslim community.
“Large numbers of people belonging to Miya (Muslim community) living in Sivasagar had fled away with family, children to safe places under threat to their life and property,” the memorandum said.
Miyas are Bengali-speaking Muslims who had originally migrated from areas in present-day Bangladesh
The Opposition’s charge also included the “planting” of bombs in 24 locations across the state by the banned ULFA (I) despite tight security on August 15.
Bomb-like objects were recovered from at least ten places. The memorandum said police “came to know” about the bombs “only after ULFA's announcement pinpointing the places to defuse the bombs”.
The Opposition also alleged that “corruption committed” by Sarma, his wife and children has “crossed all the limits”. It referred to the media reports that “exposed the long list of illegal property of Dr Sarma like land, buildings, tea garden, resort, five-star hotel, schools etc. across the country and abroad”.
An Opposition leader said they will “go big” on the corruption front in the days to come and that they will seek a probe by a Supreme Court judge into the wealth of Sarma.
Sarma has been chief minister since May 2021. His response to charges are awaited.
