Congress files several police complaints against Himanta for remarks against women

Guwahati: The Congress on Thursday filed police complaints against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his alleged derogatory remarks against women during the recent panchayat poll campaign.

In a protest against Sarma's statement made on April 28, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) lodged several complaints at district headquarters across the state.

The police are, however, yet to register the FIRs and said they are investigating the complaints.

Sarma, during panchayat election rallies, had mentioned a witness' statement from the report of the Justice (Retd) Biplab Kumar Sharma Commission on irregularities in the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) examinations for 2013 and 2014, when the Congress was in power.

He had said the witness' statement maintained that women "had to adopt a wrong path" to get jobs during the Congress regime.

"District Congress presidents and other leaders filed complaints at their local police stations, condemning the chief minister for making comments that allegedly malign the character of Assamese women," party spokesperson Monalisa Baruah Hazarika said.

The Congress demanded legal action under relevant provisions of the BNS and called for an investigation into the CM's statements, she added.

In Guwahati, while filing the complaint at Dispur Police Station, Metropolitan District Congress president Gopal Chandra Sharma told reporters that the "chief minister's remarks casting doubt on the chastity of Assam's women reflect a deeply regressive and distasteful mindset".

He also alleged that the CM's "suspicion" towards women appointed during the Congress rule was "unjust" and could cause serious social unrest.

Sharma also asserted that during the time of those appointments, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma himself had held influential positions in Tarun Gogoi's cabinet.

"If there were any irregularity, the current chief minister should also be held accountable," he added.

The Congress had, on Wednesday, burnt an effigy of the Assam chief minister for his alleged derogatory remarks against women and wrote to the National Commission for Women (NCW) seeking action against the BJP leader.