Bimal Borah Issues Statement on Photo with Assamese-Bangla Paired Gamosa

Amid the rising controversy over an Assamese-Bangla paired gamosa, Assam Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Borah issued a statement on Monday claiming that the viral photo of him with the gamosa was taken one and a half years ago.

While interacting with the media on the photo, he said, “Assamese gamosa will always remain as it is. By pairing it up with another community’s gamosa or giving it another structure or design will hurt the sentiments of Assamese community which is natural.”

He further said, “The photo making rounds on social media was taken one and a half years ago.”

The Bangla Sahitya Sabha on its first state-level conference honoured Assamese-Bangla paired gamosa to their guest including Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu.

The gamosa controversy has been making headlines grabbing reactions from several people from Assamese community.

With the photo of Ranoj Pegu adorning the paired gamosa around his neck, a photo of Bimal Borah smiling as he was looking at the gamosa on his hands was also making rounds on social media.

Yesterday, following the controversy, Ranoj Pegu issued a clarification.

Also Read: Is Questioning a Minister's Attempt to Unite Assamese-Bangla Communities, Too Much?

He said, “At the first conference of Bangla Sahitya Sabha, they kept the photo of Rabindranath Tagore on one side while on the other side photo of Lakshminath Bezbaruah was seen. They identify themselves as Bengali-speaking Assam people. They honoured me with the paired gamosa at the event.”

“Gamosa got the GI tag which means that no other state or region can claim gamosa as their own. It was just an event where they honoured us with the gamosa. I don’t feel there should be any controversy regarding this matter as gamosa will always remain gamosa and no other region can claim it to be theirs,” he added.

However, his statement was not accepted by the masses.

Also Read: Assam's Gamosa Gets GI Tag