Row erupts over removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue for clock tower construction in Assam

Guwahati, July 12 (IANS) Days after the statue of Mahatma Gandhi was removed for the construction of a clock tower in Assam’s Doomdooma town in Tinsukia district, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said he was unaware of the incident.

Assam Chief Minister, reacting to a post by Mahatma’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, said on X: “I am not aware of this decision taken by the district administration. Let me verify the facts. Assam owes much to Mahatma Gandhi.”“He stood firmly with Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi when the Congress party led by Nehru wanted to include Assam in Pakistan under the Grouping Plan,” Sarma said.Tagging a newspaper clipping, Tushar Gandhi in his post on the X said: “Not surprising that the BJP government in Assam decided to replace Bapu’s statue with a clock tower. Their slavish colonial hangover persists.”The issue of replacing the Mahatma Gandhi’s statue, which is over 64-year-old, has mounted into major controversy with opposition Congress recently staged protest while local people and various organisations are also annoyed by the district administrations’ decision.Officials said that the statue was recently removed as part of the Doom Doom’s development project which included building a clock tower and replacing the old statue with another statue.The 5.5 feet tall Mahatma Gandhi statue was installed in town during the chairmanship of Late Ram Bachan Singh in 1960, it was a town committee that now has become a Municipal Board.Officials in the board said that the statue was then brought from Gujarat.“Part of the statue including the spectacles were damaged over the years. The face of the statue was facing the old AT Raad which is no longer the entry point of Doom Dooma town,” the official said.After the huge controversy, Doomdooma BJP MLA Rupesh Gowala assured them that a new and taller statue (6.5 feet) of Mahatma Gandhi would be erected at the same site.“The old statue was in a dilapidated condition and the new one would be installed within six months, along with beautification of the site,” Gowala told the media.Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baruah laid the foundation stone of the Doom Doom’s development project before the recent Lok Sabha election, but the actual work has not yet started.When the contractor of the project began the work recently, former Doomdooma MLA and Congress leader Durga Bhumij along with party workers arrived at the site and strongly opposed the removal of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.“The BJP never paid due respect to Gandhiji. Instead, it always gave respect to Nathuram Godse,” the Congress said.“At a time when Gandhiji’s statue was set up in as many as 80 countries around the world, the Board is going to build a clock tower by removing the statue of the Father of the Nation. The board should take the opinion of the public before taking this scheme,” the Congress leader had told the media.–IANSsc/dan