Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the state police would follow the case against Cong ress spokesperson Pawan Khera to its “logical end”.
The state Congress has responded by questioning Sarma about the police’s alleged inaction in a 2020 case against the Ajmal Foundation, run by AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.
On Thursday, Khera was deplaned from the Delhi airport and arrested by an Assam police team for a “defamatory and insulting” comment he had made on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a news meet on February 17. Khera was subsequently granted interim bail by the Supreme Court.
Attaching the apex court order, Sarma in a tweet on Friday said the Assam police would follow the matter to its logical end.
Referring to the court order, Sarma’s tweet also said: “The majesty of law shall always prevail. The accused has tendered an unconditional apology (Para 7). We hope that keeping the sanctity of public spaces, no one will use uncivilized language in political discourse hereafter.”
The Assam Congress unit has responded by raking up a 2020 case against NGO Ajmal Foundation run by AIUDF chief and Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal. The NGO had been accused of receiving funds from a few foreign agencies with alleged links to terror groups.
In a tweet, Assam Congress asked: “Why didn’t CM @himantabiswa take any action against @BadruddinAjmal even after having proof that @BadruddinAjmal received money from Islamic Extremist groups?? Or did he lie to mislead people of Assam??”
Congress social media department chairman, Ratul Kalita, told The Telegraph that the chief minister had spoken about the allegations against the NGO before the 2021 Assembly elections.
“The case was registered in 2020 by the city police. Our question is why no action has been taken till now?” Kalita asked.
The foundation had then dismissed the allegations and said it would welcome a probe.
Assam PCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah, who is attending the Congress plenary in Raipur, had in a tweet on Thursday asked: “What sort of high handedness is this? Is there any rule of law? On what grounds is this being done and under whose order? We @INCAssam with Sri @Pawankhera.”
Khera was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by a BJP leader from Dima Hasao district in south Assam. The BJP heads a coalition government in Assam.
The complaint said Khera’s alleged insulting, defamatory and provocative statement has “already created serious repercussions” among the political activists and followers of the BJP in the district of Dima Hasao”.
Khera had ascribed to Modi the middle name of “Gautamdas”, referring to the Prime Minister’s alleged proximity to industrialist Gautam Adani.
Modi’s actual name is Narendra Damodardas Modi, Damodardas being his father’s name.
