‘Incorrect translation’: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma apologises for now-deleted casteist post

PTI, Dec 29, 2023, 3:31 PM IST

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma apologised for uploading a post with casteist remarks on his social media platforms saying that his team made an “incorrect translation” of a verse from the Bhagavad Gita.

Sarma in a post on X and Facebook on Thursday night said that he uploads one verse of Bhagavad Gita every morning on his social media handles, which have posted 668 Slokas till date.

“Recently one of my team members posted a sloka from Chapter 18 verse 44 with an incorrect translation. As soon as I noticed the mistake, I promptly deleted the post… If the deleted post has offended anyone, I sincerely apologise,” he said.

The Chief Minister stressed that Assam reflects a “perfect picture” of a casteless society due to the reform movement led by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva.

On December 26, Sarma had uploaded an audio-visual post on his social media handles like X and Facebook that he claimed to be from Sloka 44 of Sanyas Yoga from the 18th chapter of Gita.

The animated video stated that “farming, cow-rearing and commerce are habitual and natural duties of the Vaishya, while serving the three ‘varnas’ — Brahman, Kshatriya and Vaishya — is the natural duty of the Shudras”. Sharing this video, Sarma even said: “God Sri Krishna himself described the types of natural duties of Vaishya and Shudras.”

This sparked a massive political row with opposition leaders denouncing what they called the “BJP’s Manuvadi and regressive ideology”.

Facing a volley of criticism, Sarma later deleted the post from all his social media platforms.