Biswajit Daimary, a Rajya Sabha member of Parliament (MP) from Assam, has written to Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla seeking clarifications on Governor Jagdish Mukhi’s visit to Kokrajhar town in lower Assam on Tuesday amid the ongoing lockdown restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
Daimary, who belongs to the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), which is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling coalition in the state, sought to know from Bhalla if lockdown guidelines issued by the Centre had two sets of rules --- one for Governor Mukhi and the rest for the other citizens.
“As per his bio-data, the Governor is 77-years-old. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) guidelines suggest that any person above 65 years is not allowed to step out of his home except for medical reasons and other emergency requirements. I want to know whether the Governor violated lockdown rules during his visit to Kokrajhar town on Tuesday,” said Daimary.
Mukhi had assumed the control of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in April after the election to the council couldn’t be held due to the ongoing lockdown.
BTC administers four districts in lower Assam --- Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri, and Chirang --- collectively called Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).
{{/usCountry}}BTC administers four districts in lower Assam --- Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri, and Chirang --- collectively called Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD).
{{/usCountry}}Tuesday’s trip was Mukhi’s first trip to BTAD after it was placed under Governor’s Rule. He interacted with various officials and representatives of over two dozen organisations during his trip.
“At least 60 people took part in the meeting in which 29 different organisations were invited in violation of social distancing norms. Significantly, the MHA guidelines said all functions and gatherings are prohibited during the lockdown,” said Daimary.
The MP has cited in the letter that the officials in Assam responsible to execute the MHA order “may not have clearly understood contents of the guidelines concerned with age and maintaining social distancing norms”.
“This kind of confusion will bring difficulties to fight the pandemic together. I request you to clarify to the government of Assam that MHA guidelines are properly implemented,” the letter stated.
In a release, issued by the Raj Bhawan regarding Mukhi’s visit, it mentioned that the Governor held a meeting with officials and instructed them to work for the welfare of the public and be on their toes to fight the pandemic.
“We are fortunate that Covid-19 cases have not been that rampant in BTAD and except a couple of positive cases in Kokrajhar, all other districts are relatively free from the viral infection. But we cannot be complacent as we have to work in tandem to keep Covid-19 at bay,” the release quoted Mukhi as saying.
Though the BPF and the BJP are ruling partners in the state, the former, who was in control of BTC since 2003, isn’t happy that the council’s administration has been placed under Governor’s Rule.
In early May, former BTC chief and BPF president Hagrama Mohilary had filed a petition in Gauhati High Court against Mukhi’s move to place BTAD under Governor’s Rule. In a series of tweets, Mohilary had also threatened to reconsider its understanding with BJP and “look for other alternatives”.