Guwahati, Dec. 28: Senior Congress leader Nilamani Sen Deka, who is in the eye of the storm for his controversial remark against Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, is not new to controversy.
A close aide of Tarun Gogoi, Deka is agriculture adviser to the chief minister with cabinet rank, a position he secured only months after being dropped as a cabinet minister in a reshuffle triggered by dissidence in the Congress Legislature Party.
He has been in the news more often than not for the wrong reasons in his second term as MLA from Dharmapur in lower Assam's Nalbari district after defeating then AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary.
As with his remark against Irani yesterday, Deka evoked similar extreme reactions in 2013 for his statement that "a person can have a full meal in the state for Rs 2.50 because of largescale production of rice and vegetables in Assam" while dwelling on a Planning Commission's report on poverty.
Last year, Assam Public Works, an NGO, filed a corruption case with the CID against him - a charge Deka has denied. This year, the NGO accused Deka of being involved in the disappearance of a woman in 2004. Deka responded by saying the girl had eloped and was happily married. The NGO in August had also lodged a court case against Deka and four others alleging corruption in distribution of agricultural lime by the agriculture department.
Deka, in his sixties, told T he Telegraph this evening that he regretted his comment on Irani. "After having apologised publicly I don't see the need for protests. I have also spoken to the chief minister and PCC president about my slip of tongue. Anything I say, even in jest, becomes a controversy. The agriculture department I was heading got four awards in four years from the Centre but it did not receive such mileage. Even now they are raising what I had said about Rs 2.50-meal issue. I do not know if it is some kind of a political conspiracy or because the fault lies in my stars or because I am not a typical politician."
Before plunging full time into politics, Deka was a high court advocate. He has also authored 21 books.
"Politics is not my livelihood," Deka said before going to a TV show where he took an apologetic line for his comment on Irani, but an aggressive stand against those trying to run him down, particularly Congress-turned-BJP leaders.
