Assam Governor Acting as RSS-BJP Activist, Says Tarun Gogoi

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said he will write to the President, Prime Minister and the Union Home Ministry about Governor PB Acharya, who he said was behaving like an "RSS and BJP activist" rather than the constitutional head of a state.

"The people of the state are aware of it... The Governor is behaving more like a Sangh (RSS) activist than a constitutional head of a state. We are going to send video footage of the speeches of the Governor to the President, Prime Minister and to the Home Ministry and urge them to decide on it," Mr Gogoi told newsmen on the sidelines of a function.

Mr Gogoi and the Governor have been at loggerheads many times after Mr Acharya, who was then the Nagaland Governor, assumed additional charge of Assam last year.

Mr Gogoi was referring to a recent meeting of Mr Acharya with a delegation of the Assam unit of the BJP including the party's Lok Sabha members.

The Governor urged the BJP lawmakers to perform their duties properly before staging a movement against the 'misdeeds' of the Congress government in the state.

Assam's regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has also sent a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee, informing him about the "controversial" role played by the Governor.

"The Governor has turned Raj Bhavan into a BJP and RSS office and a training centre for the BJP and RSS, which is dangerous for democracy," AGP president Atul Bora said in the memorandum, and sought the intervention of the President.

Earlier, Mr Gogoi had expressed displeasure over Mr Acharya's choice of appointees to the Dibrugarh University Court.

Mr Gogoi accused the Governor of flouting the existing norms while nominating the 12 court members of the Dibrugarh University as four of them have no other background except being from the RSS.

The Assam unit of the Congress and other political parties and non-political organisations have staged protests against this move and termed it an attempt to "saffronise" the education sector in the state.