The Congress Saturday slammed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the arrest of its Assam unit spokesperson Reetam Singh for a social media post, saying the action was "worse than atrocious". The opposition party asserted that Singh's post, for which he was arrested, was "perfectly reasonable". "The arrest of my young colleague Reetam Singh for a perfectly reasonable social media post is worse than atrocious Mr Chief Minister," Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said on X and tagged Sarma. CM Sarma defended the arrest, saying that it was related to a caste-based insult directed at a Dalit woman.He also warned of an impending "big revelation" linking a senior Congress leader, Gaurav Gogoi, to ISI and Pakistan.
Sir, this case pertains to a caste-based insult directed at a Dalit woman. If you justify calling the husband of a Dalit woman a rapist as a ‘perfectly reasonable’ social media post, it speaks volumes about the direction in which you people have taken the Congress party. But,… https://t.co/ChKRZnuDrt
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) March 15, 2025
Jairam Ramesh responded sharply, calling Sarma an "outgoing CM" and accusing him of using the police for political vendetta. "Mr Outgoing CM, stop diverting from the real issue - which is the abuse and misuse of police powers by you personally to favour your associates and fix your opponents," he wrote.
Reetam Singh was reportedly arrested on Saturday by Lakhimpur police from his residence in Guwahati on the basis of a complaint about a social media post. As police arrived at Singh's residence, he accused them of not following due procedure, claiming that they did not produce an arrest warrant.
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