Assam: Removal of Gandhi statue for clock tower construction sparks row

Guwahati: Days after the statue of Mahatma Gandhi was removed for the construction of a clock tower in Assam's Doomdooma town in Tinsukia district, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said he was unaware of such a move and would verify the facts.

The issue of replacing the statue which is over 60-year-old has snowballed into major controversy with opposition Congress staging protest. Locals and organisations are miffed by the district administrations’ decision.

The statue was removed as part of the Doom Doom’s makeover project which included building a clock tower and replacing the old statue with another statue.


The statue was installed in town during the chairmanship of Late Ram Bachan Singh in 1960, it was a town committee that now has become a Municipal Board. The statue was installed over a well. Doom Dooma town has several wells.

Officials in the board said that statue was then brought from Gujarat. “One side of the spectacles of the statue was damaged and there were a couple of damages that have crept in the statue over the years. The face of the statue was facing the old AT Raad which is no longer the entry point of Doom Dooma town.”

Sarma, reacting to a post by Mahatma’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, wrote on X: “I am not aware of this decision taken by the district administration. Let me verify the facts.” The chief minister also maintained that Assam owes much to Mahatma Gandhi.
"He stood firmly with Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi when the Congress party led by Nehru wanted to include Assam in Pakistan under the Grouping Plan," Sarma said on the microblogging site.

On Thursday, Doomdooma MLA Rupesh Gowala assured them that a new and taller statue of the Father of the Nation would be erected at the same site.

The BJP legislator claimed that the statue was in a somewhat dilapidated condition and the new one would be installed within six months, along with beautification of the site.

Tushar Gandhi wrote, “Not surprising that the BJP government in Assam decided to replace Bapu’s statue with a clock tower in Dibrugarh. Their slavish colonial hangover persists.”

Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baruah laid the foundation stone of the project before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, but the work was not started.

When the contractor began the work a couple of days ago, former MLA of Doomdooma and Congress leader Durga Bhumij along with some Congressmen arrived at the site and opposed the removal of the statue of Gandhi and building a clock tower there.

Bhumij alleged that the BJP never paid due respect to Gandhi. Instead, it always gave respect to Nathuram Godse. At a time when Gandhi's statue was set up in as many as 80 countries around the world, the Board is going to build a clock tower by removing the statue of the Father of the Nation. The board should take the opinion of the public before taking this scheme, he said.
When a few Congress workers had gone to the Board's office to see the Detailed Project Report, the DMB officials failed to show them the same, Bhumij alleged.

Rupesh Gowala, said there is funding for the project. The old statue was five feet tall, but the new statue will be taller than the old one. "It will take around five to six months to complete the entire project. After that people will get the complete picture.”