The United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) has expressed strong reactions against the Sarbananda Sonowal government for registering a case of sedition against well-known scholar and intellectual Hiren Gohain.
Condemning the government’s move, ULFA (I) c-in-c Paresh Baruah has warned Chief Minister Sonowal for filing sedition case against scholar Gohain.
“If Chief Minister Sonowal does not refrain away from such anti-Assamese acts, he will have to face dreadful consequences,” Baruah told a local TV channel on phone hours after the news aired on TV channels.
“Every citizen has rights to register protest in a democratic state. Taking to street during the crisis of a nation can never be tantamount to sedition,” said the ULFA (I) chief.
What Sonowal did is actually identical to sedition, Baruah added.
Assam police on Thursday registered a case of sedition against renowned scholar and public intellectual Hiren Gohain besides Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) chief Akhil Gogoi and activist and journalist Manjit Mahnata.
A case (no 15/2019) under sections 120 B/121/123/ 124 A (sedition) of the IPC was registered against Gohain over the speeches he had made at a public meeting in Guwahati on Monday.
Asom Basaok, a platform of prominent intellectuals, writers and journalists, on Monday observed “Dhikkar Divas” (Condemnation Day) against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 at Guwahati Club in Guwahati.
Addressing the programme, Gohian said that if the central government does pay any heed to the demands of the people of Assam, demand for independent Assam will crop up.