Assam Congress suspends MLA arrested for provocative statements

Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed was arrested on Saturday for making provocative statements over last month’s violent eviction drive in Darrang district that claimed two lives

The Congress suspended Assam legislator Sherman Ali Ahmed from the party for making provocative statements after party MLAs sought he be disciplined following the Baghbar MLA’s arrest on Saturday.

Last week, Sherman Ahmed had justified the killing of 8 people in Darrang district around four decades back at the height of the statewide agitation against illegal infiltrators (ANI Photo)

Assam Congress general secretary Bobbeeta Sharma said on Monday that state unit president Bhupen Kumar Borah suspended the MLA “with immediate effect for repeatedly violating party discipline”.

On Sunday, Assam Congress Legislature Party (CLP) had recommended disciplinary action against Ahmed on the same charge.

The Congress had earlier issued a show cause notice to Ahmed for “damaging the party’s image” ahead of by-polls in the state and for “making communally sensitive comments with the intent to destroy social harmony”.

Ahmed was arrested on Saturday for making provocative statements over last month’s violent eviction drive in Darrang district that claimed two lives. He was remanded to two days in police custody by a city court on Sunday.

The legislator has been charged under Section 153 and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc.

The killings had taken place near the site of the recent eviction drive on September 23 at Dholpur-3 village in Darrang district. Two people died and nearly 20 others including 11 policemen were injured in the eviction drive.

Around 1,200 families, most of them Bengali-speaking Muslims residing on government land for decades, were evicted from the area to establish an ambitious agriculture project.