GUWAHATI: Garima Saikia Garg exercised her democratic right by voting in the Assam Assembly elections once again on Thursday, but the only difference this time was that she was not accompanied by her husband, the late music icon Zubeen Garg.
“Earlier, I would always come along with him to cast my vote,” she told media persons after casting her vote in the Dispur Assembly constituency in Guwahati.
She did not miss her vote despite being unwell. She was discharged from a hospital only the previous day. “It is our duty to vote, and that is why, although I am unwell, I have come to vote,” said Garima who was accompanied by the singer’s sister Palme Borthakur.
On justice for Garg, she said, “We are fighting for his justice. We are hopeful that justice will be done in an expeditious manner.” She was admitted to the hospital last week after she had complained of blood pressure-related issues.
Garg (52) had died mysteriously on September 19 while swimming in the sea in Singapore. He travelled to the country to perform at the fourth North East India Festival (NEIF).
Later, the Assam Special Investigation Team arrested seven persons – NEIF organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, DSP cousin Sandipan Garg, personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya, bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta – in connection with the death. All of them are in judicial custody. The trial started in a fast-track court last month.
For the opposition parties, particularly Congress, justice for Garg was among the biggest poll planks. The demand for justice intensified after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had claimed that the singer was murdered as part of a conspiracy.
Garg was virtually a cult figure and the heartthrob of youngsters. Very few people could accept his untimely and mysterious death. The Congress had announced five guarantees for Assam, with the biggest being ensuring justice for the singer-musician within 100 days of coming to power.