In a significant development ahead of the assembly elections, former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah is set to join the BJP, according to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Borah told reporters outside his residence that he has sought time from the Congress high command to reconsider his decision
'It is clear they have accepted that the next two elections belong to the BJP.'
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the assembly on Tuesday that singer Zubeen Garg's death while swimming in the sea in Singapore is a case of 'plain and simple murder'.
The Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy, making it an offence which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says most of those present with singer Zubeen Garg in Singapore during his death have yet to respond to CID summons, and addresses related political accusations.
Zubeen Garg's cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg was apprehended on Wednesday in connection with the singer's death in Singapore last month, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five, a senior officer said.
Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi will contest the upcoming elections in Assam from Sibsagar as a candidate of his newly-floated Raijor Dal.
Allowing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the high court had remanded the matter back to the trial court to conduct a fresh hearing on the question of framing of charge against all the four accused persons including Gogoi.
Noted Right to Information activist and secretary general of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, Akhil Gogoi was seriously injured when he was allegedly assaulted by a group of Youth Congress members at Chamota in flood-affected Nalbari district of Assam on Friday.
Gogoi was the only one whose bail was rejected by the court and he was released after spending 567 days in jail once Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das cleared him along with the three others of all charges.
The activist, who advises various farmer organisations, was arrested when Assam was witnessing widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Earlier, the high court had permitted the NIA to seek framing of charges in the special court against Gogoi and three of his associates in connection with anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links.
A Congress councillor was arrested in connection with the attack on Right To Information activist and Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi while search was on for five others allegedly involved in the assault.
Right To Information activist and Team Anna member Akhil Gogoi was attacked and critically injured by suspected youth Congress activists in Assam's Nalbari district on Friday.
Right To Information activist and President of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti Akhil Gogoi was arrested on Sunday in connection with the self-immolation of an activist last week, triggering widespread protest in Assam.
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti general secretary and RTI activist Akhil Gogoi has resorted to a fast unto death in Guwahati demanding halt in construction of mega dam projects on various rivers in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan, including the mainstream of Brahmaputra river.
In a letter from jail, Gogoi also alleged physical and mental torture in custody
Newly floated Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), led by former All Assam Students' Union leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi, on Thursday forged an alliance with the Raijor Dal of jailed anti-citizenship law activist Akhil Gogoi for the upcoming assembly elections.
The founder of the newly floated Raijor Dal -- arrested in December 2019 over sedition charges - bagged 57,219 votes as an Independent, garnering support from 46.06 per cent of the electorate.
Akhil Gogoi, member of the legislative assembly from Sivasagar in Assam, is likely to be released from jail on Thursday as a special NIA court cleared him and his three associates of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged role in the violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act stir in Assam in December 2019.
Replying to the motion, he said the crime rate has not increased if the population growth is taken into account.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
As soon as the House reassembled, Sarma stood to give his reply, which was objected by all opposition members saying "the matter was over".
MLA Bachchu Kadu had reportedly proposed in the Maharashtra assembly that stray dogs be sent to Assam to control their rising population, as they are consumed by locals in the northeastern state.
The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties 'ordering' them to 'withdraw' the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and warned that 'legal action' will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
Members of the Congress and AIUDF, protesting against a Cabinet decision to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, staged walkouts later.
A bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal, which extended the protection from arrest to Gogoi till March 3, said it would hear the matter on Friday.
Hazarika, a former minister, said that he resigned from all posts in the AGP, including that of the general secretary.
Sarma, while responding to reporters' questions on high price of veggies in Guwahati, had said, "Vegetables are not priced so high in villages. Here the Miya vendors charge us more. Had it been Assamese vendors selling vegetables, they wouldn't have fleeced their own people."
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said on Thursday that his party has not accepted the Trinamool Congress's proposal of a merger as it does not want to compromise on its Assamese identity.
'Himanta Biswa Sarma has put a lot of effort in demonising Muslims this time.'
'We will not accept the CAA and EIA. We have been protesting against the CAA since 2016, but this government has not listened to us'
Labelling the NIA as a 'mere political tool' of the BJP government at the Centre, Gogoi said the judgment will be a landmark for those arrested through the misuse of the two anti-terror laws.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday expressed apprehension about Maoists' design behind the agitation launched by the landless or illegal settlers on government land under the banner of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, whose leader Akhil Gogoi has already been arrested and in judicial custody now.
In an unprecedented incident, a protestor from the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, a peasants' group led by Right To Information activist Akhil Gogoi, died after setting himself ablaze in front of the high-security state secretariat complex in Guwahati on Monday.
The saffron party won 60 of the 126 seats, its allies Asom Gana Parishad nine and United Peoples Party (Liberal) six. Congress bagged 29 seats, its partner All India United Democratic Front 16 and Bodo Democratic Front four.
Nandita Saikia, a BA student at Moridhal College in Dhemaji district, was attacked by Rintu Sharma while she was returning home from her college on Saturday, police said.
Vehicular traffic came to a halt in many parts of Guwahati city on Thursday for hours as thousands of landless farmers stormed the city demanding land and denouncing government's design to allot agriculture land to industrialists at throwaway prices flouting all norms.
Even as the crackdown on Saradha Group involved in the chit fund scam continues, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity, a leading NGO in Assam, on Thursday staged a mass demonstration in front of the deputy commissioner's office in Guwahati.
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