ASSAM TIMES POST
Guwahati : Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi on Wednesday tendered a written apology in the House for slitting his hand to use his blood for writing slogans against the Assam government in the Assembly premises yesterday.
Kurmi read out his apology stating the method of his protest was not the right way to register his disagreement with the government though it was important to have done so.
Speaker of the House, Hitesh Goswami, said Kurmi’s apology letter arrived yesterday when he was holding a meeting with opposition Congress leader Debabrata Saikia and other party leaders and Parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in his office chamber to discuss the issue.
MLA Kurmi, often described as ‘maverick’ and ‘quirky’ for his unusual protest styles, came out from the House here as the winter session was proceeding and at the entrance of the hall took out a blade, slit his left palm and wrote on a banner with his blood in front of the waiting media persons and others.
Kurmi, who represents Mariani constituency in Assam’s Jorhat district, had written slogans against the state government’s reported move to sell the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited ( Namrup Fertilizer Complex), Halmari Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district and Ailabari tea estate in Karimganj district.
The Congress MLA talking to the waiting Journalists had said, “all these assets being on Assam’s soil are linked to the state’s honour, people’s means of livelihood and future….therefore cannot be allowed to be sold.
On the first day of the winter session of the Assembly on November 28 last Kurmi had staged a sit-in demonstration holding placards against the shutdown of two tea estates.
On subsequent days he participated vbin the combined opposition parties Congress and All India United Democratic Front noisy protests inside the House over the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens, lying down on the floor at the entrance of the House and wearing garlands of onions to protest against price rise of the vegetable.
