Jailed peasant leader Akhil Gogoi says he was manhandled in the state assembly

Jailed peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who won from the Sibsagar seat in the recent Assam elections, complained that he was manhandled in the state assembly while he was proceeding for swearing-in on Friday.Gogoi told the media that he was manhandled by the security personnel in the assembly.“This is nothing but an insult to Assamese people. In violation of Covid protocol, these personnel pushed and pulled me. They can no longer muzzle my voice,” he said.

Gogoi contested the election in absentia as he was in jail. He was arrested over sedition charges in 2019 during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. He was also accused of helping set up bases for the Maoists.Gogoi, who is currently undergoing treatment at Gauhati Medical College Hospital, said: “I underwent tests (for Covid-19) but see these people, they are pushing me, are they tested?”Gogoi said he had informed speaker Biswajit Daimary that he did not have permission to attend the assembly session for the remaining days, and that the speaker told him he would look into it.There are two more days left in the first session of the new assembly which started on Friday.Gogoi floated his party, Raijor Dal, before polls and his party won one seat, where he had contested.On the opening day of the new assembly’s first session on Friday, 126 members took oath. While chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his predecessor Sarbananda Sonowal took oath in Assamese, Karim Uddin Barbhuiya of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and BJP’s Suman Haripriya, Jayanta Mallah Barua and Amiya Bhuyan took oath in Sanskrit.BJP legislator and former Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary is the new speaker. Daimary had left the Bodoland People’s Front last year and joined the BJP before the Bodoland Territorial Council elections.Meanwhile, opposition Congress and AIUDF criticised the alleged treatment meted out to Gogoi. Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi said: “How can an MLA be manhandled in the assembly premises. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who is in charge of the home department must look into it.”