Congress has suspended Sherman Ali Ahmed with immediate effect, according to a one-sentence statement. According to the statement, Ahmed had repeatedly violated party discipline.
Sherman Ali Ahmed, an Assam Congress MLA, was suspended by the party today after being arrested for making incendiary remarks about an eviction campaign in the 1940s. Congress announced Mr Ahmed’s immediate suspension for repeatedly violating party discipline in a single sentence.
Congress officials wanted to hold him accountable after serving him with a show-cause notice in 1983, when an agitation in Darrang district killed eight people. In Assamese society, he referred to the eight people he referred to as “murderers” as “martyrs of agitation.”
Mr Ahmed reportedly made the remarks in response to the district’s deadly eviction campaign last month. On September 20, nearly 800 Bengali-speaking Muslim families were evicted from 4,500 bighas of government-claimed land in four locations in Dholpur, about 9 kilometres from Sipajhar.
After his remark sparked outrage across Assam, several FIRs were filed against him. Mr Ahmed was arrested on October 2 at his official Guwahati residence.
Before the state byelections, the Assam Congress issued a show-cause notice to MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed, accusing him of making “politically motivated” statements “with the intent to harm the party’s image.”
Ahmed has been accused of acting as a “BJP agent,” and that because of his close relationship with the chief minister, he is being paid to make such comments in order to harm the Congress, particularly during elections, according to the report. These allegations have been refuted by Ahmed.
During the most recent eviction campaign in Gorukhuti, Darrang district, at least two people were killed by police gunfire, and dozens more were injured in the ensuing clashes.
