Sushmita Dev targets Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Kemprai’s remarks

A CORRESPONDENT 

SILCHAR: Condemning Mukteswar Kemprai, President of Dimasa Writers’ Forum, for his derogatory remarks against the language martyrs of 1961, TMC MP Sushmita Dev pointed fingers at the Chief Minister, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging that he had failed to take action against the person who dared to insult the Bengalis. On Wednesday, the TMC staged a demonstration demanding the immediate arrest of Kemprai who in his recent letter to the Axam Xahitya Xabha protesting its support for renaming the Silchar railway station as ‘Bhasa Shahid station’ had said that those who were gunned down during the 1961 Language Movement in Silchar were actually Bangladeshis and outsiders. Kemprai’s comment had triggered much protest in the Barak Valley and a good number of FIRs were lodged against him. The Cachar SSP Partha Pratim Das discussed the issue with the leading cultural activists of Silchar and assured them of prompt action. Kemprai meanwhile in a social media post expressed regret maintaining that all Bengalis of Barak Valley were not Bangladeshis. 

On Wednesday, Dev said that Kemprai had issued a vague statement in reaction to the protests and announced that if he was not arrested within a few days, the TMC would lodge a case in the court. She also said that Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma had failed to maintain the dignity of all the linguistic communities of the state and that hence people like Kemprai could easily insult the Bengalis.

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