Governor-APCC rift comes to a head

Congress protestors lay siege to Raj Bhawan, demand Governor PB Acharya's immediate removal

BY Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, June 23:  Unprecedented scenes were witnessed at the gates of Raj Bhawan in Guwahati today with leaders and workers of the ruling party vociferously demanding Governor PB Acharya's removal. A first such incident in the political history of the State, it brought to a flashpoint the turf battle raging between the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government and the Governor.

After marching to Raj Bhawan, hundreds of Congress, Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and NSUI activists staged a sit-in-demonstration before the barricades. The site of protest resembled a battle zone with police, CRPF and other paramilitary personnel out in full force. Fortutely no untoward incident took place.

The Governor was not present in Raj Bhawan during the protest. APCC vice-president Ripun Bora handed over to a magistrate a memorandum through the DC, addressed to the President of India, demanding that Governor PB Acharya be either restrained or relieved of his duties.

Taking particular exception to Governor PB Acharya's comment during a public meeting in Silchar that "during the 60 years of Congress rule in India, the Congress party exploited and looted the country more than the Mughals and the British during their rule", and his act of nomiting to the Court of Dibrugarh University four members 'without any academic distinction and good social reputation but having RSS background', the Congress memorandum demanded the president's immediate intervention into the matter. 

The Congress memorandum also demanded the President 'to take immediate steps for removing Sushma Swaraj from the office of Union Minister to uphold the prestige and interest of our country', for compromising Indo-UK bilateral relations by unlawfully using her office of Exterl Affairs Minister for maging travel documents to Lalit Modi.

Later speaking to reporters after the demonstration, Ripun Bora commented: "This is the only Governor we have seen damaging the high dignity of his office. He is operating like a broker of a political party, as a spokesman of the RSS and BJP."

Congress leader Anil Raja too demanded Governor Acharya's removal while Dwijen Sarma upped the ante by adding: "If he is not withdrawn from the State immediately, we will go to Delhi to demand his removal".     

It remains to be seen where the face-off between the Congress-led State government and the Governor will lead to, with political observers pointing to the intense turf battle going on between the Delhi Lieutent Governor and the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government.

In Assam, the Tarun Gogoi government and Governor Acharya came to loggerheads ever since the Constitutiol head strongly denounced the rampant poaching of rhinos in Kaziranga and had blamed the 'lax' State government for the problem. The Governor has also criticized the Gogoi government for the controversy over the APSC facing allegations of massive irregularities in the 2013 Assam Civil Services and Police Services examitions.