Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (file photo)
Dispur: In the BJP-ruled Assam, a Gandhi statue was removed, triggering a massive controversy with students protesting against the removal. It was two days ago, the 5.5-foot statue, located at Doomdooma’s Gandhi Chowk in Tinsukia district, was removed using an excavator, NDTV reported.
But, Assam Chief Minister Himanata Biswa Sarma said that he wasn’t aware of the removal of the statue. He said that he wasn’t aware that the district administration was making such a decision and added that he needed to verify the facts.
Sarma said that Assam owes very much to the greatest freedom fighter and father of India. He claimed that Congress wanted to give Assam to Pakistan, but Gandhiji stood with Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi against the move.
It was the All Assam Student Union (AASU) that launched protests alleging that the district administration wanted to build a clock tower there. AASU leader Pritam Neog said that when they met the municipal board and the town committee, they told them that they have a plant to build the clock town. The leader wondered that why the the civil society there was not taken into confidence before taking the decision to remove Gandhi statue.
Earlier, Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi slammed the BJP government over the decision to remove the statue. He said that it was not surprising that the Himanta Sarma government decided to replace Bapu’s statue with a clock tower.
Meanwhile, the BJP MLA from Doomdooma Rupesh Gowala claimed that a new statue is being made to erect in the space from the original statue was removed. It would be a foot taller and will be placed next to the clock tower.