Protest against DSA was not a party-move: Cachar BJP President; Respect autonomy, Sushmita Dev; Keep sports and politics aside, Tamal Banik

The District Sports Association of Cachar is facing a row of controversy, and many unpleasant events have unfolded since Assam Olympic Association had forwarded a letter to DSA regarding the validity of its elected body. The events that occurred in the DSA premise have become topic discussion in Silchar, and sports enthusiasts expressed their disgust regarding the controversy. People also taking close notes of how the ruling BJP is trying to stage a coup inside DSA. Last Sunday a sit-in protest was organised in front of the DSA gate to dismantle the special general meeting of the DSA governing committee. Opposition leaders and politicians are also following the controversy closely.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Susmita Dev, who is also a governing council member of DSA called this a shameful event. Sushmita Dev fiercely reacted to the events and said to Barak Bulletin, “Silchar DSA is an autonomous body, it has its own constitution. This organisation is being run by the former sportsman only, so DSA is not a platform for politics, whatever happened on Sunday is just shameful.”

Tamal Kanti Banik, Congress leader and general council member of DSA did not consider the events in a positive way. Tamal Banik said, “Whatever has happened is very bad, past players who had a glorious contribution for district Sports had to stand on the road. Only sportsmen should govern the sports organization, that’s what I believe in.”

He also wanted to know that fact that the existing DSA committee is there for two years, so why are they protesting now, why there was no protest till that day?

“The governing council has taken the right decision because if I want to represent DSA as GC college alumni, this wouldn’t be the right thing to do, those who are governing the sports, should represent the body,” asserted the former Municipal Chairperson.

Sunday’s events had also tarnished the image of the current government, especially for the sports enthusiasts. Even neutral people are criticising the attempted coup on Sunday. The president of Cachar BJP, Bimalendu Ray, however told Barak Bulletin that the protest that was held on Sunday was not decided by BJP. “I was unwell, so I was unaware of what happened there, I only came to know about the things through newspaper and media. I had a discussion with a few members. I enquired with them and told them it was not a party decision, so why did they go to the protest. They only represented as alumni of excluded institutes, they told me. But the events were untoward, unexpected, we can’t indulge in internal conflict. we shall meet in this regard, we will see what can be done, ” Bimalendu Ray said.