In a public display of hooliganism, Shamsul Huda, the AIUDF MLA from East Bilasipara in Assam, thrashed a man with a banana plant during the foundation stone laying ceremony on Tuesday (18th March). A video of the incident that went viral on social media shows Huda pulling a man, said to be an employee of a contractor, by his collar and slapping him. He even uprooted a banana plant used in the ceremony and beat up the man with it.
Bilasipara East MLA Shamsul Huda publicly assaulted a contractor's clerk, Sahidur Rahman, with a banana plant during a bridge inauguration at Daikhowa Market!
— The Assam Tribune (@assamtribuneoff) March 19, 2025
The act was caught on camera and has since gone viral, sparking massive outrage.
Witnesses were left stunned as the… pic.twitter.com/tnhqtIYp2Z
As per reports, the MLA was there to lay the foundation stone of a bridge at the Chuapata Daikhowa market. Huda was dissatisfied with the arrangements for the foundation stone laying ceremony. He got angry when he saw the colour of the ribbon and the size of the banana trees. The MLA expected a red ribbon tied to tall banana plants for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The contractor arranged a pink ribbon that was tied to one and a half feet tall banana plants. This would have made him bow down to cut the ribbon. A furious Huda pulled the employee of the contractor standing next to him by the collar and slapped him hard. He did not stop at that. He uprooted one of the two banana plants and started thrashing him and people standing there tried to stop him.
Following the MLA’s outburst, the contractor Avinash Agarwala sought an apology from him for the errors in arrangement.
The MLA’s action drew widespread criticism after which he issued an apology. “Yesterday I was laying the foundation stone of various works in a gram panchayat in my Bilasipara East constituency since morning. Earlier we laid the foundation stone of Rs 11 crore which went well. This unexpected accident happened as it was a big bridge work and I told the contractor to do it a little better,” Huda said explaining the incident.
Apologising for his action, Huda said that it should not have happened but he was compelled to do it. “It was not right for me to do that in public. But the environment forced me. So I apologize to all the people of Assam and our people of Bilasipara for what happened,” Huda said.
The MLA alleged that no bricks or stones were given to break the coconuts at the foundation stone laying ceremony. He said that he had to wait for about half an hour for bricks to break the coconuts.
