Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Guwahati: Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Sunday slammed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that the BJP leader was engaged in every kind of "lawless and illegal activities" and was trying to hide "this loot" from the outside world, PTI reported.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function here, Bhushan said the Sarma-led government is "preventing" people from finding out what is happening in the state.
"It is clear that the Assam government of Himanta Biswa Sarma is engaged in every kind of lawless and illegal activity, particularly illegally pushing out citizens to Bangladesh and outside this country, illegally evicting people from their land, illegally demolishing their homes," he said.
Bhushan, also a renowned social activist, further alleged that the state government was "illegally" attempting to hand over agriculturally productive tribal lands to companies like the Adani Group and others.
"A lot is going on in the state, and the chief minister wants to hide this. Therefore, he wants to prevent independent people," he added.
Earlier during the day, Sarma claimed that the Congress, Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, and intellectuals like Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, Wajahat Habibullah, Fayaz Shaheen and Jawahar Sircar are working to weaken the state with some elements of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Margherita, Sarma claimed, "In Assam, Congress, Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, Prashant Bhushan, Harsh Mander and intellectuals like them, and some elements from Pakistan and Bangladesh are active with the aim to weaken our state".
"We, all Assamese and Indians, have to be united to defeat this conspiracy," he added.
On the day, Sarma also informed us that the names of people evicted from encroached land will be deleted from the voters' list of the places where they were living illegally. He claimed that the previous generation of the state failed to "save" lower and central Assam, but efforts must be made to "save" upper and northern parts, in an apparent reference to the sizable population of Bengali-speaking Muslims in those areas.
"If someone is evicted from a place, their name cannot be on the voter list of that place. Along with eviction, names will be deleted from the voter list," he said.
"Their modus operandi is to enter upper and northern Assam now. Our attempt is to ensure that, like lower and central Assam, these parts are not gone. We and our previous generation failed to save lower and central Assam, but we are now trying to save upper and northern Assam," he added.