Ridiculing Assam chief minister’s comment over Padma award recipients of the State including senior journalist Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah, the Journalists Forum Assam (JFA) expressed shock that a veteran politician like Tarun Gogoi can publicly malign the distinguished personalities, who were declared as winner of Padma Shri by the Union government on the occasion of 67th Republic Day.
CM Gogoi on 28 January 2016, while addressing a press conference at Dispur expressed his displeasure that the Centre had not recognized anyone for Padma awards from the list of Assam government. He also asserted that the Centre had thus (ignoring the State government’s list of 28 personalities) shown disrespect to the federal structure of the country.
The chief minister even questioned, ‘On whose recommendations were the Padma awards given? Was it Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who recommended the four names chosen for this year’s awards?’.
“Maligning a senior most media personality like DN Bezboruah, who once led prestigious institution Editor’s Guild of India, the chief minister has shown his utter disrespect to the media fraternity,” said a statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria adding that Gogoi’s outburst does not suit his present political position and stature.
The forum also endorsed the reaction from author-journalist Bezboruah that Gogoi had lately developed a ‘habit of shooting off his mouth’ and the forum too feels remorseful that ‘we live in a State where the chief minister talks so irresponsibly’.
The JFA finally questioned the commitment of the State government while recommending the name of reputed personalities for various Padma awards in the last 15 years during Gogoi’s tenure as the chief minister and commented that personality like Bezboruah (with many others) should have been offered the honour decades back.
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