Guwahati: Leading intellectuals of Assam on Sunday demanded the immediate release of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti leader Akhil Gogoi who is in Goalpara jail on charges of blackening the signboard of Model College set up by the state's BJP-led government after the name of BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.
A statement, issued to the state government by 18 intellectuals of Assam, led by Hiren Gohain, said Akhil was arrested because he had raised his voice against the alleged misdeeds of the BJP-led state government.
"From many days we have been raising the demand to release Akhil Gogoi. The government arrested him without any reason. Not only us, most people of the state too are raising the same demand. But till now the government has not paid attention to it," senior journalist and signatory to the statement, Manjit Mahanta, told this correspondent.
"We will also organise a public convention on December 28 in Guwahati to mobilise people's opinion against the atrocities of the BJP government," Mahanta said.
"Akhil was earlier arrested under the National Security Act and sent to jail for around 100 days. But ultimately Gauhati High Court rejected the allegation and marked it as unconstitutional. Even the court also sent a showcause notice to the chief secretary of Assam in this case. But the government again arrested him in an old case registered under Dudhnoi police station of Goalpara district. Arresting Akhil Gogoi is unconstitutional and harmful to democracy," the statement said.
The demand came a day after the CLP leader Debabrata Saikia, who had met Akhil in Dibrugarh jail soon after his detention, said: "Akhil's re-arrest in the Dudhnoi case and the subsequent protests make it clear that the BJP-led state government is responsible for fomenting public unrest. The Sonowal ministry has now dropped all pretence of legally prosecuting a bona fide accused and has displayed that it is actually persecuting a political opponent. "
On September 13, Akhil was arrested by Dibrugarh police for a provocative speech against the government. On September 25, he was booked under NSA in connection with several cases.
Gauhati High Court on December 21 had quashed his detention under the NSA.
