Guwahati: The Assam Police arrested Dhing MLA Aminul Islam from Nagaon in the wee hours of Tuesday. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) legislator was charged with an attempt to communalise the government’s efforts to tackle the COVID-19 crisis in the country and criticising the state’s initiatives through misleading facts and information, sources said.

Confirming this, sources informed EastMojo that a high-level team from Assam Police took him to Nagaon from his Dhing residence and interrogated him the whole night on Monday. Later, based on various allegations and documents related to the case, Islam -- one of the most controversial MLAs in Assam politics in recent times -- was formally arrested in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Addressing the people of Assam through a video clip, Islam had earlier claimed that nobody from the Nizamuddin Markaz event has tested positive for coronavirus. He also alleged that the isolation wards set up by the government are like detention camps, a conspiracy to kill a section of the people.

“No one from Nizamuddin Markaz has tested positive for coronavirus. Only one person died because of some other disease,” Islam had said.

Severely criticising the media, Islam had also alleged that the media, both national and regional, have been trying to malign the image of the Muslim community in the country. “See the name of the first infected patient in India. See the names of all other patients. Are they all Muslims?” Islam said.

Blaming Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of trying to politicise the issue, Islam had also alleged that the minority people have been targeted and tortured in various camps set up by the state government to offer quarantine facilities.

This is not the first time Islam had courted controversy with his remarks. Earlier in February this year, Islam had made a controversial statement saying the Ahoms are not the indigenous people of the state. He had said this while addressing a public meeting at Moirabari in Morigaon.

He had also claimed that the Bengali-speaking ‘Miya’ Muslims, who migrated from East Pakistan or erstwhile Bengal province, belong to the indigenous community of the state.

Reacting to his statements, several Ahom organisations had staged protests and burnt effigies of the AIUDF MLA in upper Assam and demanded the state government to arrest him.

Meanwhile, contrary to Islam’s statement, Assam MP and AIUDF chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal has urged all who returned to Assam from the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation to immediately visit government hospitals for coronavirus screening.

“You have not committed theft or robbery, you have nothing to fear. Please visit the nearest government hospitals immediately for necessary screening and quarantine. Because those who had contracted the deadly virus during their stay in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin are not only putting their lives in danger but also their family members, neighbours and all who came in their contact so far,” Ajmal said.