Congress MLA from North Karimganj Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha. File photo: Northeast Now

The โ€˜Purkayastha vs Purkaysthaโ€™ wrangle in Barak Valley politics refuses to die down with Congress MLA from North Karimganj Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha on Monday retaliated to veteran BJP leader Kabindra Purkayasthaโ€™s chide at him for โ€˜defaming the chief ministerโ€™.

On Sunday former BJP Minister Kabindra Purkayastha came down heavily on Kamalakhya for his one point agenda of defaming Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

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It is very unfortunate to hear such comment from veteran politician like Kabindra Purkayastha, Kamalakhya said.

He then raised series of questions asking, โ€œWhere were the BJP leaders when Panchayat documents were made null and void? Where were they when IMDT was repealed? Why were they silent when APWโ€™s Abheejit Sarma thanked chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal for dropping the refugee registration certificate from the list of admissible documents for those excluded from final draft NRC?โ€

To buttress his claim on BJPโ€™s anti-Bengali stand, Kamalakhya pointed out how the government has curtailed Durga Puja holidays and even denied Tagoreโ€™s birth anniversary celebration in educational institutions of Barak Valley.

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โ€œThe government can declare holiday under Negotiable Instrumentation Act but in Barak Valley we Bengali people are deprived of celebrating Tagoreโ€™s birth anniversary and Durga Puja,โ€ he said.

โ€œBut can the BJP leaders give a satisfactory reply to these questions?โ€

According to the Congress legislator, BJP leaders in Barak Valley have no honest courage to face these questions and are trying to save their jobs only.

On Sunday Kabindra Purkaystha said, โ€œIt seems he has taken the responsibility on behalf of his party to defame Assam CM every single day. Every morning I take the newspaper in my hand and see him passing snide remarks of a person who among so many chief ministers of Assam has come out openly for the first time to acknowledge the fact that Barak valley needs development to make the state developed.โ€

Manas Roy is News Coordinator (English) of Northeast Now. He can be reached at: [email protected]