Sherman Ali Ahmed, a Congress MLA from Assam detained on Saturday for making “provocative comments” in connection with last month’s violent eviction drive that claimed two lives, was remanded in police detention for two days by a city court on Sunday.
Last Monday, a Congress MLA from Baghbar defended the killing of eight persons in Darrang district, near the site of the latest eviction campaign, over four decades ago, during the peak of the state-wide movement against illegal infiltrators. In Assam, those who were slain are revered as martyrs.
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Ahmed was nominated for disciplinary action by the Assam Congress legislature party (CLP) on Sunday for “repeatedly breaching party discipline.” The party had previously sent the MLA with a show-cause notice for “damaging the party’s image” ahead of the state’s by-elections, as well as for “making communally sensitive statements with the purpose to undermine social peace.”
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At the eviction campaign on September 23 in Dholpur-3 village in Darrang district, two persons died, and almost 20 others were wounded, including 11 police officers. To undertake an ambitious agriculture project in the region, the district administration evicted about 1200 people living on government property for decades.
