Students and teachers in Assam’s Nagaon town protested on Tuesday against Union minister Rajen Gohain after he reprimands a retired teacher at a public meeting when he was raising concerns about bad roads in his locality. Gohain, the minister of state for railways, is a four-time Lok Sabha MP from Nagaon.
The incident took place during a Swachh Bharat Abhiyan event in Nagaon on Monday. “I have been submitting applications over time but no initiatives have been seen. You can come with me to see the real condition of the roads, then you can decide if I am speaking the truth or not.” The retired teacher.
Umesh Borthakur, 75, was speaking on the stage when Gohain interrupted him: “Why are you raising such issues? What benefits are you trying to draw? You have come with an ill-motive. If you have any complaint, you should have approached me personally and not in front of the public. What nonsense!”
Students and teachers gathered in front of Gohain’s house in Nagaon on Tuesday and burnt him in effigy. They demanded that he publicly apologise to the teacher for humiliating him.
The Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association demanded an apology within two days. They demanded his resignation as a minister in the Union Cabinet.
“Abusing a retired teacher in a public meeting by a public representative is never acceptable,” said Ratul Chandra Goswami, the general secretary of the teachers’ association. “During the meeting, the teacher had raised some problems faced by his locality. It is his right and he had done his duty as a responsible citizen.”
Gohain has refused to apologise to the teacher and said: “If needed, I will quit politics. The teacher’s statement was so aggressive.”
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
