Hours after the police in central Assam’s Nagaon district arrested MLA Aminul Islam for “seditious” views on the COVID-19 pandemic , a complaint was lodged against the president of a regional political party in western Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
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A resident of Rupathi Nagar in Kokrajhar town, Suleman Narzary, on Tuesday lodged an FIR against Promod Boro, the chief of United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), for “spreading false information” on the disease.
A former president of the All Bodo Students’ Union, Mr. Boro had joined the UPPL ahead of the now-deferred election to the 40 seats across the BTC. He was a signatory to the Bodo Peace Accord in January that led to the disbanding of four factions of the extremist National Democratic Front of Boroland.
The FIR was lodged at the Kokrajhar police station under Sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with providing false information with intent to cause fear or alarm among the public.
Mr. Narzary said the UPPL president, had during an interview to a television channel on April 5, claimed there were more than 30,000 people infected with the novel coronavirus in India when the data provided by the government on April 6 said the figure was a little more than 4,200.
“We are facing a very bad time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Central and the State governments urged the people not to make any faulty statement on COVID-19. Here, we have the president of UPPL who is disseminating false information,” Mr. Narzary said.
‘Slip of the tongue’
Mr. Boro said the FIR amounted to making a mountain out of a molehill, “possibly because of the political atmosphere” in the areas under the BTC. Political rivals have allegedly been under pressure in the BTC, which has been ruled since 2003 by the Bodoland People’s Front, an ally of the BJP.
“It was a slip of tongue on my part when the TV interviewer sought my views during the 9-minute blackout, I had observed in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call. The figure at that time was above 3,000 but I said 30,000. I realised the faux pas only after the interview was aired,” he told The Hindu from Rangiya, about 65 km west of Guwahati.
