Himanta Biswa Sarma retracted his statements inside the state Assembly after the Congress filed a breach of privilege complaint against the Assam Chief Minister on Wednesday.

A complaint was filed by Congress Legislature Party with the Principal Secretary of Assam Assembly for Sarma’s remarks during a debate on former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Sarma later withdrew his complaint, however, the Congress has not withdrawn its privilege notice and demanded an apology from the Assam CM.

A complaint letter by signed by over 20 Congress MLAs and addressed to the Principal Secretary said: “Today in the House, the Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that he is aware of the discussion held in the ACLP (Assam Congress Legislature Party) room. Further, he has also stated that some Hon’ble Member of the ACLP has informed him about the decision taken in the CLP meeting held on 28th March, 2023.”

The ACLP said the statement by Sarma was false and hence was bringing a breach of privilege against Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while urging the principal secretary to take up the notice for “further action” according to the law.

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Commotion erupted in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday morning after the Congress introduced an Adjournment Motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

Introducing the notice, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said they want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution as it is the same for every citizen and the executive must act fairly to protect it.

In his reply to the motion, Himanta Sarma said that expressing opinions on judicial matters is unprecedented and claimed he knew that the ACLP had taken a decision last night to “create noise” in the House.

 Replying to the motion, Mr Sarma said, “It’s unprecedented that we’re expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken by Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here.

Sarma later parts of his claim that someone from the opposition had informed him of the Congress’ plan the previous night.

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The Assam Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for releasing and producing the controversial two-part documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ which questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the infamous 2002 Godhra riots and his effect in rise of militant Hindu nationalism in India.

BJP legislator Bhubon Pegu raised the issue through Private Members’ Resolution, claiming that the UK national broadcaster has challenged India’s democratically elected government, judiciary and free press via its “malicious” agenda-driven two-part documentary.

The BJP MLA, while calling the 2002 Gujarat riots as a “spontaneous reaction” to the Godhra train burning, alleged that the “calculated” timing of the contentious documentary revealed it was a deliberate attempt at tarnishing the image of PM Modi and India at a time when G20 meetings are being organized in the country under India’s presidency.

Pegu claimed that BBC cannot “digest” the fact that India has surpassed the UK to become the world’s fifth largest economy and as was trying to defame India, adding that an “international conspiracy” is also being orchestrated against India.

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The saffron party MLA demanded “strictest possible” action against the BBC for its “malicious and dangerous agenda to instigate religious communities and flare religious tension” by airing the documentary.

The resolution was supported by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who pointed out that that the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to PM Modi after carefully examining all aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The resolution was opposed by CPI(M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar who said that the topic of the resolution doesn’t have anything to do with Assam as none of them have even watched the documentary film. He asked if MLA Pegu had watched it and if other members of the assembly could also screen it with the BJP leader.

Talukdar was supported by the Opposition members who then raised a demand to screen the documentary in the House before the resolution could be discussed.

Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed, Independent member Akhil Gogoi and AIUDF legislator Karim Uddin Barbhuiya demanded that Speaker Biswajit Daimary allow screening the piece to understand its content and then have a discussion on the resolution.

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The Assam government on Sunday suspended the IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma in connection with the alleged financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds. Sharma was working as a secretary to the Assam government’s Agriculture Department.

As per the official notification, Sewali Devi Sharma opened five bank accounts without the approval of the Assam government during her tenure as the Executive cum Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

It was also reported that FRBM rules were not followed in respect of those five bank accounts. The notification further stated that a report of enquiry on the functioning of ODL under SCERT found financial irregularities and very credible references to the misappropriation of funds.

The Joint Secretary of the Assam Government signed the notification stating that Sharma has been suspended from the post of Secretary of Assam’s Agriculture Department with immediate effect. Sewali Devi Sharma’s suspension is placed under rule 3(1) of the All India Services (Disciple and Appeal) Rules, 1969.

The Assam government has also suspended Assam Civil Service (ACS) officers for alleged financial irregularities in the execution of projects under the MP Local Area Development Fund.

The officers who are suspended are Assam’s Home and Political Department Secretary Sharmistha Borah, Additional Commissioner of Kamrup Metropolitan Sukandya Borah, Hemanta Kumar Dutta, Tinsukia Zila Parishad CEO Munindra Bordoloi. According to the reports, all the accused have been placed under immediate suspension, pending the drawal of departmental proceedings.

The report stated that Rs 28 lakhs were allocated from the Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan’s MPLAD Fund for the construction of three roads in Barpeta, however, no roads were constructed and the funds that were allocated were withdrawn by submitting fake road construction bills.