The Wire’s hitjob against CM Himanta’s wife proves to be a dud and earns them a defamation suit

Far-left publication The Wire recently published a hitjob against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his family, not sparing even the son of the BJP leader. In a report titled, “How Govt Land Meant for the Needy Found Its Way to Firm Linked to Assam CM’s Family,” this shoddy publication went on to spread falsities and legal lies regarding the Assam chief minister’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma. According to the report, a company co-founded by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma has occupied around 18 acres of government land intended for landless individuals and institutions in Assam.

The said land, located at a prime location just next to Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati is situated in what is to become a world-class tech city. The Wire alleged that the company in question, RBS Realtors Private Limited, acquired most of the 18 acres in two stages, first in 2006-2007 and then in 2009. This was bearable insanity. What happened to the “investigators” at the Wire and their Guwahati collaborators next seems to be a paralytic fit of sorts.

According to The Wire, the sale and registration of these plots took place less than three months after their allotment to the original beneficiaries, thus violating the mandatory 10-year lock-in period as stated in the conditions under which the plots were granted by the government to those individuals. So, according to the left-leaning publication whose funding has time and again been called into question, some 80% of that total ceiling surplus land had already been acquired by the company by the time Sarma’s wife resigned from RBS Realtors’ directorship on June 9, 2009.

Atanu Bhuyan – a Guwahati-based journalist and the editor-in-chief of DY365, has shed light on the Wire’s scamming story. Bhuyan also informed that the Wire will soon be served a defamation notice for slandering Himanta Biswa Sarma’s family. 

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In a Twitter thread, Bhuyan said, “According to Land Policy of 1989 and Assam Land Revenue Regulation 1886, and Section 16 of Ceiling Act doesn’t restrict any sale before 10 years. The restriction came from 2019 during BJP’s government. But, CM @himantabiswa’s wife @rinikibsharma bought all the property in 2006. At that time, Revenue Commissioner CK Das issued a notice stating that no one could sale ceiling land before 10 years. But then again in 2008, High Court quashed this order. Property’s new owner Ranjit Bhattacharya told me that, on Friday they will file defamation case against.”

So, the whole plank of the Wire’s story stands demolished. The Wire’s fundamental contention was that the ceiling land was sold before the lock-in period of 10 years. However, it conveniently forgot to mention that the said regulation was quashed by the Guwahati High Court in 2008. 

Soon, Rhe Wire will have to explain itself before a court of law. There, it will surely be punished for lying through its teeth and defaming Himanta Biswa Sarma’s family. It is high time an example is made out of this pamphlet masquerading as a news publication.