GUWAHATI: The dropping of Siddique Ahmed from the
Tarun Gogoi cabinet has evoked strong reactions in the minority-dominated areas of Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), with several organizations staging protests against chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday.
As a minister, Ahmed criticized the
Gogoi government for allegedly failing to stop violence in BTAD in May this year.
Ahmed also attacked the chief minister by saying, had the home department under Gogoi been sensitive, violence would not have recurred in BTAD. Along with the dissident camp of
Congress legislators, Ahmed also sought Gogoi's ouster, alleging that the government failed to punish the perpetrators of violence and seize illegal arms in the BTAD.
While the former minister promptly earned the ire of chief minister for going against the government, his expulsion from the cabinet triggered a sympathy wave, especially among the minority community, who saw Ahmed as being victimized for speaking the truth. Ahmed's removal is being seen by many minority organizations as a ?sacrifice' for speaking the community's plight.
The
Sanmilito Jonogosthiyo Oikya Mancho (SJPOM), an umbrella body of different non-Bodo organizations, staged protests in BTAD and different parts of the Barak Valley against the removal of Ahmed. SJPOM activists also burnt the effigy of the chief minister here on Wednesday.
"Ahmed was the only minister who had the courage to speak the truth about violence in BTAD. No minister perhaps had the courage to speak about the government's failure in protecting the minority community in BTAD. That is why Ahmed has been removed from the cabinet," said Zamser Ali, president of BTAD Citizen Rights Forum (BCRF).
A protest meeting was also held by SJPOM here on Wednesday, in which different organizations, including the Hitesh Barman faction of All Koch Rajbongshi Students' Union, All BTC Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) and All Assam Minority Students' Union, took part.