Himanta lands in Guwahati, not arrested

He wanted to be hero, says Rakibul

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: His supporters shouted that he will be arrested; he too said that the police can arrest him, but as he landed in the LGBI airport in Guwahati on Thursday, no arrest was made.

Supporters thronged in thousands at the LGBI Airport at 12 noon as BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma arrived back in the city from Dhaka.

In his twitter posts, Sarma earlier indicated the possibility of his arrest immediately after landing in Guwahati citing the Congress complaint against him at the Bhangagarh police outpost in connection with the Rajiv Bhavan clash.

Talking to reporters, his fans and supporters who in large number thronged the Borjhar airport, mostly, said that they came to prevent police from arresting Sarma.

However, talking to The Sentinel and refuting all allegations that the police had plans to arrest Sarma, a senior police officer said, “We have not called him up. We have not sent anybody to the airport...we are not going to arrest him. Don’t know who told his supporters to go to the airport to prevent police.”

On the other hand, the BJP supporters on Thursday created a chaos in the airport premises. The supporters also damaged the Meghalaya information centre at the airport. It has been learnt that the Airport Authority has imposed a fine on BJP.

Unruly BJP supporters also assaulted two jourlists of a private satellite news channel.

Meanwhile, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has slammed the hooliganism of the BJP supporters at the airport and condemned the entire incident. In a statement, APCC secretary Jakirul Alam said, “Himanta Biswa Sarma through a private news channel carried a misinformation to the people and his supporters that he will be arrested soon on his arrival in Guwahati. Himanta Biswa Sarma’s supporters brought people to the airport in order to generate sympathy on a false note.”

The statement further said, “We condemn the attack on video jourlist yanjyoti Baishya and jourlist Montu Kumar Saikia. On Dec 28, the BJP launched a planned attack at Rajiv Bhawan and today they did the same at the LGBI airport which is a public place.”

Earlier, talking to reporters in cabinet minister Rakibul Hussain said that the BJP leader wants to be arrested to come to limelight. “The former minister and BJP leader has been spreading rumour of his impending arrest through the social media. Have police sought him? Have police called up him? He wants to be a hero,” said the minister.