Bhupen Borah challenges Himanta, asks him to resign if Gaurav Gogoi wins Jorhat

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 21, 2024

Amid a war of words, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah on Sunday challenged Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to resign if Gaurav Gogoi wins from the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in this election.

Borah’s comment came in the wake of the chief minister’s claim that Gaurav Gogoi would lose Jorhat and BJP candidate Topon Kumar Gogoi would win by a huge margin of votes.

“I am giving a direct challenge to Assam chief minister as he is telling a lie to the people of Assam that he is going to win in Upper Assam. So I am giving him a challenge. He will accept my challenge that if Gaurav Gogoi wins from Jorhat he will resign from CM’s post,” Borah said addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan here on Sunday. 

“Union minister Sarbananda Sobnowal will lose badly, especially because of CAA. Because Dibrugarh was the nerve centre of anti-CAA protest and the influential student organization All Assam Students Union (AASU) along with 26 other student organizations have urged the people not to vote for BJP in this election,” Borah said.

“Another thing is that the tea labourers are very angry with the BJP because the BJP is planning to sell all the tea gardens to corporate houses and they are diverting the tea land for other purposes. This is one of the core issues for which garden people are angry with BJP and they decided to give a lesson to BJP,” Borah also said.

 “On the 19th I was in a meeting at Darrang-Udalguri constituency from where I expressed my gratitude to the leaders of anti-BJP political parties and organizations for their bold step. Today also I appreciated their steps to oust the BJP in the elections. I also thanked all individuals, intellectuals, government employees and leaders of nationalist organizations for this,” he said.

 “I am happy to tell you that there was no polarization of anti-BJP votes in four Upper Assam constituencies. But there is some division of votes in Dddibrugarh constituency but this will give a walkover to our United Opposition candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi,” he also said.

“There is a revolution in this election. Our leader Rahul Gandhi stressed a hike in wages for ASHA, Anganwadi and cooks. I think these workers are now coming up boldly to protest against the government’s negligence. Yesterday, I saw how an Anganwadi worker challenged a CM on a news channel,” Borah said. 

“In this regard, I also call upon the Bhal Manuh (Goodman) of the state to raise their voices against the BJP on social media platforms. The AASU is an influential organisation and they raised their voice in a proper time to protest against CAA through EVM. It also activated undercurrent against the BJP in upper Assam,” Boraha further said.

“Now the chief minister started dancing to cover up his depression. He danced leaving aside his speech,” the Assam Congress chief said.

“Earlier, the chief minister humiliated Muslims many times. He mocked them, criticized them and said he did not want Miya’s votes. But now he took a U-turn, he is now seeking votes from Muslims,” he said. 

 “In the first phase of the poll, voter turnout is the lowest in Hojai district. Only 65 per cent vote was polled. What does it indicate? It indicated that the Linguistic Minorities also boycotted BJP,” Borah said.

 “Not only that, Lakhpati baideos have become ‘hatashpati (depressed) baideo’. They announced it publicly a day ahead of the election,” the Congress leader said. 

“Now they start threatening the voters. An MLA Bijay Malakar openly told voters if they do not vote BJP they will bulldoze your house. In Morigaon, BJP MLA Ramakanta Deori said we will cut your ear if you do not vote BJP. In Dibrugarh, sonowal says I will open my mouth,” he added.

Borah also urged the people to continue the trend till the second and third phase of the Lok Sabha election to vote for anti-BJP forces.