Guwahati: Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika on Thursday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena for putting a ‘Jharu’ (Broom) on a traditional Assamese ‘Jaapi’ during a campaign the AAP MLA attended in the city on Wednesday for the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections.
Lambasting the AAP MLA in particular and AAP in general, the Assam Information & Public Relations and Water Resources minister asked Marlena and her party members to kneel down and apologize before the people of Assam for insulting the ‘Jaapi’ and allegedly hurting people’s sentiment.
Addressing a press conference here in Guwahati, Hazarika said, “Jaapi, Xorai and Gamosa are the pride of Assam and symbols of our self-respect. We strongly condemned this act and warn the AAP leader and her party not to repeat this again in the future. This is for the first time that a leader committed such wrongdoing during an election rally. Before coming to Assam, she should know our culture. Atishi and other AAP members must kneel down and apologize before the people of Assam.”
Atishi Marlena had on Wednesday visited the city to drum up support for party candidates contesting the GMC polls slated for tomorrow. She took part in a rally where the incident took place.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma also reacted to the incident and asked AAP leaders from Assam to brief leaders visiting from other states about our culture and traditions so that such incidents do not recur.
