Assam: Sushmita Dev Opposes Assamese-Only Mandate for Durga Puja Posters

GUWAHATI: Former Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev has strongly objected to a notification by the Kamrup Metro district commissioner that says banners and hoardings put up by puja committees can be written only in Assamese.

Sushmita Dev who attended a press conference at Nagaon on Sunday said that linguistic diversity is important and the notification issued by the district commissioner may violate peoples right to say whatever they want in the languages they are conversant with.

She agreed to the fact that an official language law was in Assam. It was because questions in the Assembly, according to the report of the Biplab Sharma Committee, were to be asked in Assamese.

Dev said the law will be presented in Assamese. The guidelines issued by the Central Government will also be translated to Assamese for the Assembly.

However, Sushmita Dev opined, "Does the government intend to interfere with even Durga Puja, which is a personal festival for so many?" She said that people from all languages have the right to express themselves in their own language. She further said that one-third of the population in Assam speaks in Bengali and their rights have been curbed by this order.

Dev attacked the BJP's governance by saying that no matter how much the centre and the state government tried, tangible results did not come out from the NRC. She said Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma cannot prepare an authenticated NRC, no matter how they spent a whopping Rs 1,600 crore on the project. Dev accuses Chief Minister and Prime Minister of seeking to polarize Assam's people on the lines of language and religion.

She further accuses Chief Minister Sarma of politicizing the Sixth Schedule to the constitution, and bringing it into an issue only ahead of election time. Dev claimed that was one of ways Sarma went about deceiving the gullible public, especially in view of the BJP's weakening appearance in Assam.

She criticized the Chief Minister's schemes, including Orunodoi, stating that electricity also should be given free of cost as 200 units can be consumed.

Dev also questioned the Congress party about not doing anything regarding smart meter. Asking them when they would make such a move through lawyers instead of politicking she said, "So, 65 years ago, in Assam, the Bengali language had such a significant presence that it can't be denied as obviously linguistic rights demand recognition," she said.

Anticipating political tensions ahead of the elections, Dev recently announced that the name of the Assam State Committee President for the Trinamool Congress would soon be declared. She also declared that the party plans to contest all the upcoming panchayat and assembly elections in Assam.

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