by Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati : At least 251 cases of sedition have been registered in the State since Sarbnanda Sonowal-led BJP government come to power in 2016. The numbers of cases were informed by Assam Cabinet Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in the Assam Legislative Assembly on Monday. Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia enquired about the total number of cases registered under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code in the State since 
Sarbananda Sonowal assumed office as the Chief Minister in May 2016. To which, Patowary informed the Assembly, “There are total 251 cases of sedition have been registered since this government assumed office.”Patowary further said that highest number of cases were registered in Kokrajhar district (88 cases) and lowest were registered in Biswanath district (5 cases). He also informed that in Chirang 43 cases, in Tinsukia 40 cases and in Dima Hasao 11 cases have been registered. Notably, the Latasil police recently registered cases of Sedition against Dr Hiren Gohain, Akhil Gogoi and Manjit Mahanta.
In other hands The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) members on Monday stormed out of the Vidhan Sabha Assembly after Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary made misleading statements about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the number of indigenous people in the state, in regards to implementing the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. It is to be mentioned that the AGP have parted with the BJP Government due to disagreements over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. Raising the issue of the NRC, Patowary had said, “The number of indigenous people has to be ascertained, thus everyone’s opinion is required on the matter since their numbers have not been decided yet. From 1985 to 2018, 6.26 lakh cases of suspected foreigners have been registered in Foreigners’ Tribunal, and while one lakh eight thousand have been identified as foreigners, 29, 859 of them have been deported.” Countering the statement, AGP member, Ramendra Narayan Kalita asked, “If the count of indigenous people has not been ascertained till does, how does the government expect to provide constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people? The urgency to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord just before the Lok Sabha elections is highly suspicious. If it would have been done two months back, we would have welcomed the decision.”
