The chief minister accused the government of trying to suppress freedom of speech by artistes and student organisations° The Students Federation of India (SFI) Assam State Committee has strongly criticized Himanta Biswa Sharma. The union said the chief minister’s comments at a press conference on Friday were “dictatorial, vindictive and against democratic values”.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, SFI said that the creative and democratic rights of every artist in Assam must be preserved irrespective of political ideology and party affiliation. The union said the constitution did not give the chief minister the right to decide which artists would express their creativity or how to paint.
SFI will always stand for the artistic freedom of all painters, poets and writers, including Marshall Barua. The union also contested the chief minister’s comment that Zubin Garg wore a special hat in various films.
According to SFI, Zubin Garg himself expressed his ideal connection with Che Guevara by wearing such a hat. The union said that the government was afraid of the socialist ideology of Zubin Garg, Che Guevara and Vishnu Prasad Rava, and that the government had shown intolerance towards posters demanding justice for Zubin Garg.
“SFI will continue its struggle against any attack on Zubin Satta,” the organization said in a statement.
The union also condemned the chief minister’s alleged threat to arrest SFI workers for painting or writing slogans on the walls of the newly constructed flyover. The statement said that the Chief Minister’s comment that painting will be allowed only if SFI supports the flyover project is highly vindictive and against democratic values.
SFI does not oppose development projects or the construction of flyovers in general. SFI, along with various student organizations, civil society and artist Zubin Garg, protested against the threat to the green cover of the area in the name of construction of Dighlipukhuri flyover.
The union claimed that citizens’ protests forced the government to change the design of the flyover and preserve the original green cover of Dighlipukhuri. However, the statement also cited media reports that despite design changes, not a single tree removed for construction survived.
The union alleged that the chief minister had threatened to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) if SFI painted the flyover.
“Everyone has the right to paint. Assam is not the personal property of the Chief Minister or his family. SFI does not fear the red eye of the Chief Minister,” the statement said. The union has also announced to continue the movement to protect the artistic freedom of all artists.
SFI also said that no threat can stop the movement to protect the public education system. The union has alleged that it is ready to deal with the situation even as it uses the NSA to protest against the closure of post-graduate courses at Heritage Cotton University due to lack of government funding.
Claiming that nearly 12,000 government schools have been closed in the state in the last 10 years, the SFI said the struggle to protect government schools, colleges and universities cannot be stopped by the threat of arrest.
“SFI workers can be jailed, but the ideals of freedom, democracy and socialism cannot be jailed,” the organization said, announcing continued agitation against injustice, oppression and anti-education policies.