Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has done a very right thing by issuing a show-cause notice to Sanjay Kishan, a minister in his government, for reportedly tendering a public apology, of all persons, to Paresh Barua, a fugitive who has been engaged in numerous criminal activities including waging a war against India. A minister is supposed to be a responsible person who takes oath in the name of the Constitution of India and declares that he or she would protect, among other things, the integrity and sovereignty of the country. But what this minister has reportedly done goes totally against the very premise on which he was appointed to that post. There can be no second opinion that the minister has committed a grave crime and shown total disrespect to the Constitution. By doing so, he has also shown total disregard for the people who had elected him to the sacred Assam Legislative Assembly. It was in this Assembly that Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi had moved a very significant resolution way back in 1946 rejecting the Grouping plan that the British government had proposed in order to help the Muslim League include Assam in Pakistan. What appears prima facie is that this minister has no understanding of his position as an MLA and minister. What also appears prima facie is that he is either not aware of Paresh Barua's criminal or anti-national activities, or subscribes to the so-called ideology of the criminal gang. Such a person does not deserve to be elected as a people's representative in any forum, not to speak of being appointed a minister. He should consider the show-cause notice sent to him by the Chief Minister as a signal showing him the door. But while the Chief Minister has taken a strong stand against his cabinet colleague, what is also required is an equally strong stand by the government against a handful of people in Assam who are currently seen to be involved in glorifying Paresh Barua and his criminal activities by one way or the other. No person in Assam can afford to forget that Barua and his gang had taken the lives of 12 innocent children in Dhemaji on August 15, 2004.