‘Vinash kale viprit buddhi’: Jairam Ramesh, Himanta spar over Congress leader’s arrest

Jairam Ramesh

The arrest of Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh by Guwahati police has triggered a heated exchange on X between Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Reetam Singh was reportedly arrested on Saturday by Lakhimpur police from his residence in Guwahati based on a complaint about a social media post.

Ramesh, in a post on X, slammed the Assam Chief Minister over the arrest of Reetam Singh for a social media post, calling the action "worse than atrocious". Ramesh, tagging the Assam CM, said Singh's controversial post was "perfectly reasonable".

Sarma hit back at Ramesh, accusing Ramesh and the Congress of justifying offensive remarks against a Dalit woman's husband. He also warned of an impending “big revelation” linking a senior Congress leader, Gaurav Gogoi, to ISI and Pakistan. The Assam CM also put a timeline on the supposed revelation.

“Sir, this case pertains to a caste-based insult directed at a Dalit woman. If you justify calling the husband of a Dalit woman a rapist as a ‘perfectly reasonable’ social media post, it speaks volumes about the direction in which you people have taken the Congress party. But, just wait--the big revelation is yet to come- The nexus of your senior leader with ISI and Pakistan will be exposed by September,” Sarma replied.

The Chief Minister perhaps referred to his earlier allegations linking Congress Member of Parliament from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi and his British wife Elizabeth Colbourn to Pakistan and George Soros's Open Society.

Ramesh was quick to react to Sarma's response, calling him an "outgoing CM" and accusing him of using the police for political vendetta. "Mr Outgoing CM, stop diverting from the real issue - which is the abuse and misuse of police powers by you personally to favour your associates and fix your opponents," Ramesh wrote.