The comments came in the wake of the controversy surrounding Zubeen Garg’s mural under Guwahati’s Ganeshguri flyover, which was partially erased during a government-led beautification drive before being repainted following public outrage.
Ironically, Garg himself never concealed his admiration for Che Guevara, often naming the Cuban revolutionary alongside Charlie Chaplin and Assamese cultural icon Bishnu Prasad Rabha as personal inspirations.
Rather than defend that artistic choice, Sarma argued that Assam should celebrate its own icons, naming Rabha, Jyotiprasad Agarwala and Bhupen Hazarika.
That argument, however, carries its own contradictions. Rabha was an avowed communist and one of Assam’s foremost Marxist intellectuals, while Hazarika’s artistic and political evolution was deeply shaped by the Left through the Indian People’s Theatre Association. By rejecting Che Guevara while embracing Hazarika and Rabha, Sarma appeared to overlook the very ideological traditions that helped shape two of Assam’s greatest cultural figures.
Sarma, meanwhile, professed ignorance about Guevara. “Who is Che Guevara? I have visited Cuba and have studied about them. Most drug trade happens there. What link do we have with him?” he said, before launching into a critique of present-day Cuba’s infrastructure and economyโan argument that conflated the revolutionary icon with the country’s contemporary condition.
The chief minister also revisited the mural controversy, denying that the government had ordered Garg’s portrait to be erased.
About the Author
