Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly (ALA) Debabrata Saikia has asked speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami to take action against Dibrugarh MLA Prasanta Phukan for his alleged derogatory remarks against Muslims.
Saikia in a letter to ALA speaker Goswami said that he would like to draw the speaker’s attention to certain remarks made by legislator Phukan, which were aired on local TV channels over the last couple of days.
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“Phukan unequivocally termed the Muslim community of Assam as “cows that do not yield milk” because according to him, 90 per cent of the community did not vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Phukan further stated that the government should not work for the welfare of the Muslims because “there is no benefits in providing fodder to cows that do not yield milk,” Saikia said.
Coming down heavily on Phukan, Saikia said that he had publicly singled out the Muslims of Assam and denigrated them as unproductive cattle.
“The Constitution of India and the laws of the land prohibit abuse of any religious group. Indeed, the Constitution of India guarantees the fundamental right to equality to all citizens without discrimination on the basis of religion or other factors. As such, we should not condone such communally divisive and hate-filled comments by an elected legislator who has sworn to protect and uphold the Constitution,” Saikia said.
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Saikia asked Goswami to examine the remarks made by Phukan and take appropriate action in his capacity as custodian of the House.