Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday accused the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) of choosing an unauthorised venue opposite Janata Bhawan for its meeting despite being granted permission to hold the meeting at two other locations in the city.
Speaking to the media, Sarma said the state government had permitted the party to hold its meeting at two venues in Guwahati: the designated meeting site at Chachal and a meeting hall in Athgaon.
He said the organisers later chose to gather at the private property of Dudul Chowdhury, located opposite Janata Bhawan, despite not having permission to hold the meeting there.
According to Sarma, the gathering at Chowdhury’s property was organised on his advice and risked disrupting the law-and-order situation in the city.
“One person wanted to create a disturbance outside Janata Bhawan, and we intervened to prevent it,” Sarma said.
The Chief Minister said police arrested CJP workers who gathered at the unauthorised location.
“Permission was first granted for the designated meeting site at Chachal. When the party requested another venue, the government approved that request too,” Sarma said.
However, CJP workers maintained that despite Sarma repeatedly claiming that the party had attempted to create disturbance in front of Janata Bhawan by staging a protest, they had no intention of holding any protest there.
According to the party workers, around 50 people had planned to hold a volunteers’ meeting at Choudhury’s residence. They argued that a small meeting at a private residence does not require permission.
CJP workers alleged that the government attempted to put clamps on the party by portraying an ordinary meeting as a protest and detaining its members.
They claimed that the action was intended to prevent them from meeting volunteers and discussing the party’s future programmes.