‘Don’t need lessons on democracy’: Himanta Biswa Sarma hits back at Singhvi over Khera case

“I don’t need lessons on democracy, public discourse or decency,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on May 1, launching a sharp attack on senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi amid the ongoing row over the case involving party spokesperson Pawan Khera.

In a strongly worded post on X, Sarma accused Singhvi of avoiding direct debate and alleged that a woman with no political involvement had been targeted and her character maligned on national television using “forged documents.” He said he was confident that courts would take note of the matter and that those responsible would be punished.

 

The remarks came after Singhvi urged the chief minister to reconsider his position in the case, citing observations made by the Supreme Court of India. He said several public statements linked to the matter were “highly inappropriate” and had lowered democratic standards.

Singhvi also pointed out that most of the charges against Khera were bailable and stressed the need to protect democratic dissent, warning that curbing free speech undermines fundamental rights.

The development follows the Supreme Court granting anticipatory bail to Khera in a case related to his alleged remarks against the chief minister’s wife. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar granted the relief subject to conditions after reserving its verdict earlier.