Help bring back Assam scholar caught in Israel-Palestine conflict: MP Gaurav Gogoi

The chemistry scholar at Ben Gurion University is from Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi’s constituency

Naziha Tarannam. Photo: www.researchgate.net

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has asked the External Affairs Ministry to help bring back an Assam scholar caught in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In a letter to Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Thursday, Mr. Gogoi sought “appropriate action” to ensure Naziha Tarannam returned safely to her home at Dergaon in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district.

Ms. Tarannum is a chemistry scholar at the Ben Gurion University stuck in Negev, Israel, due to the country’s conflict with Hamas in Palestine. She is from Mr. Gogoi’s Lok Sabha constituency Kaliabor.

On May 16, the body of Sowmya Santhosh was brought back to her hometown in Kerala from the conflict zone in Israel. She was killed in a Hamas airstrike in Israel’s Ashkelon on May 19.

‘Protect language and culture’

In another letter to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Mr. Gogoi hoped the State government would heed certain recommendations of the Congress for protecting the Assamese language and culture.

These included non-implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and adherence to the clauses of the Assam Accord of 1985.

The MP also sought enhancement of daily wages of tea plantation workers to ₹365, a monthly stipend of ₹2,000 to all homemakers in Assam, and free electricity of up to 200 units to the most vulnerable families.