Himanta's 'Hussain Obama' remark draws flak from Oppn

Guwahati, June 24 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's cryptic "Hussain Obama" tweet drew major flak from the opposition on Saturday.

On Friday, the Chief Minister had tweeted: "There are many Hussain Obama in India itself. We should prioritize taking care of them before considering going to Washington. The Assam Police will act according to our own priorities."

Sarma said this in response to a question on the micro-blogging platform on whether an FIR was registered in Guwahati against former US President Barack Obama for hurting sentiment.

This was in reference to the former President saying in a TV interview this week that there danger of India pulling apart if ethnic minorities and Muslims were not protected.

Condemning Sarma's remark, Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi sought an apology from the Chief Minister and termed his tweet as "nonsense".

In a video message, the MLA said: "Himanta Biswa Sarma made a communally perverted comment to the former US President. He has the habit of making such comments. I, as a brother of Himanta Biswa Sarma and a fellow MLA in the Assam Assembly, apologise to Barack Obama on behalf of the Chief Minister."

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev said that the Chief Minister's "communal comments are not only unconstitutional, these are actually against the law of the land which prevents any person making divisive comments".

"It is now interesting to see whether the Assam police which persecute people cutting across the state boundaries on the allegation of 'unlawful' comments will take any action against Sarma for his comments."