As the Guwahati based satellite news channels beamed the news, harsh reactions against those intellectuals started pouring in the alternate media. The outspoken BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma commented critically against the group saying that they were actually leftist intellectuals (read not neutral intellectuals) and he claimed that the electorate of Assam would never listen to their campaign against the party that is in power at the Centre. Sharp reactions also came from senior journalist Dhirendra Nath Chakrabarty, who termed the appeal of those intellectuals as a paid statement (like paid news in nature). Saraswati Sanman, awardee Assamese author Lakshi Nandan Bora and former bureaucrat Rohini Barua also expressed annoyances that the section of intellectuals unnecessarily tried to diktat the electorate. The debate gained momentum as few more noted citizens came out with resentments against the appeal made by Gohain and his team just two days before the first phase of Assam polls. Acclaimed academician and former Gauhati University vice-chancellor Nirmal Kumar Choudhury with former Assam police chief Nishinath Changkakoti criticized the stand taken by those intellectuals. “Asking people not to vote for a particular party is in itself a threat to democracy. Nobody has the right to issue a fatwa to theelectorate on exercising their franchises. They (Gohain and his team) are trying to mislead the voters on the eve of polling day,” said a statement signed by Choudhury, Changkakoti with few others. They also urged the electorate of the State to come out in large number to give their mandates without any fear or under any influence. Similar appeal was given by non-political organization Loka Jagaran Mancha, which urged everyone to vote to make it a cent percent turnout.

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