Kaziranga Night Safari Row: Assam Congress file FIRs against CM Sarma in several districts

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee on September 26 lodged a series of FIR against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is several districts of the state for violating Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in Kaziranga National Park on September 23, 2022.

Notably, Barpeta District Congress Committee, Dhemaji District Congress Committee, Tinsukia District Congress Committee and Hailakandi District Congress Committee took to its micro blogging site, Twitter and posted the FIR registered against the Assam's chief minister.

This comes after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah broke wildlife protection law by entering Kaziranga National Park for a night safari.

On the other hand, refuting to the claims of violation of wildlife protection law, Assam chief minister said, "There is no violation. According to the wildlife law, the warden can give permission to enter a protected area even at night. No law stops people from entering at night. Yesterday, we had the formal opening of the park for this season and now that Sadhguru and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had arrived, and since they have lakhs of followers, this time we expect the tourist season will be very good for Kaziranga."

Meanwhile, activists claimed that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, bans safari tours inside the national park after a scheduled time to protect the animals and keep their habitat relatively untouched.