Guwahati: On a day when, Assam Chief Minister pledged to end child marriage and abolish polygamy in the state alongside announcing execution of key de-limitation policy during his Independence Day speech, his party chief in the state hoisted Tricolour that was upside down at Assam BJP head office in Guwahati, causing embarrassment to the party which made invocation of national pride a customary practice to seek votes.
BJP state president Bhabesh Kalita hoisted the national flag in the Vajpayee Bhawan situated at Basistha in Guwahati city on Tuesday morning. But all of a sudden, the BJP members present there, saw that the National flag was flying upside down. The flag was immediately lowered and properly hoisted again.
On the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hoisted the National Flag in Guwahati. Hoisting the National Flag on the occasion of 77th Independence Day here, Sarma also said that the government will take a decision regarding the districts abolished just prior to the start of the delimitation exercise.
"We have accepted the delimitation as reality. To take the constituency reorganisation to a logical conclusion, many things are to be done in the near future," he added. The state government will start a series of administrative reforms within the next one month, the chief minister said.
Sarma also said that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will be completely lifted from the state. Speaking at the celebrations being held at the Khanapara Playground here, Sarma said: “In Assam, the AFSPA has been scrapped from many districts already. The law and order situation of the state has improved largely and soon the Act will be completely lifted from the entire Assam.”
Sarma also reiterated his stance on polygamy and said that an expert committee has been formed to enact a law in order to dissolve it. "To end polygamy in the state, our government has decided to bring a strong law soon. Our government had formed an expert committee under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Rumi Phukan to end polygamy," he said.
The Chief Minister also announced that his government is committed to ending child marriage in the state by the year 2026. “Earlier, our government conducted a massive operation against child marriage across the state and nearly 4,000 people were arrested. Now we will launch another massive crackdown on child marriage in the state in September this year," CM Sarma said.
