Bengali museum at Kalakshetra: War of words between Himanta & Kamalakhya

Nov. 2: The political atmosphere in Assam has heated up centering MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha’s demand of setting up of Bengali Museum at Srimanta Sankaradev Kalakshetra. This has led to a war of words between North Karimganj MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and BJP heavy weight Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Himanta Biswa Sarma also took a dig at Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha for setting up collections related to Bengali culture at Sankardev Kalakeshtra. On 31 October, Himanta Biswa Sarma in a press meet said, “Will I demand to place a photo of Kamakhya at Sankardev Kalakeshtra? Sankardev Kalakeshtra shall house only artifacts related to Mahapurush Sankardev. Kamalakhya’s words does not represent the voice of the Bengali community. I can never imagine that Congress can speak such insensitive words.”

On miyan museum pic.twitter.com/Dt39HGiB6h

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 31, 2020

Replying to this, Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha convened a press conference in Karimganj on Monday and made a scathing attack on Himanta Biswa Sarma. He said, “I challenge Himanta Biswa Sarma to fight the forthcoming assembly election from North Karimganj. It will be clear after 3 months who represents the Bengali community. I don’t require any certificate from Himanta Biswa Sarma. I will always speak up against any injustice meted out upon the Bengalis in Assam.”

Justifying his demand of making a Bengali museum at Sankaradev Kalakshetra, Kamalakhya said that a man of the stature of Srimanta Sankardeva cannot be bound by narrow socio-religious or community feelings. He was a social reformer and worked for the upliftment of all sections of the populace. He said, “I thought Himanta would speak nice things as he is a Ph.D holder. But his mentality is confined to polarisation of votes. Himanta Biswa Sarma is responsible for all syndicate prevailing in Assam.”

Earlier, Congress MLA Sherman Ali involved in a controversy demanding ‘Miyan Museum’ at Sankaradev Kalakshetra. Taking a sharp dig at Congress MLA Sherman Ali for his ‘Miyan Museum’ comment, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Sherman Ali will have to face the music for his ‘Miyan Museum’ comment. “Once the BJP government comes back to power, we will put him behind the bars for good. That someone will say that a ‘lungi’ will be placed at Sankardev Kalakeshtra is not at all acceptable to us. Unless he publicly apologize, he will land in jail,” said Himanta Biswa.