Congress completely becomes a Muslim-centric party: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 6, 2024

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said Congress has become a completely Muslim-centric party which is evident from the recently –concluded Lok Sabha elections.

However, Sarma said the Congress will not be zero for the next 100 years till a constituency like Dhubri exists, where the population figure will go up by 29 per cent in the next 10 years.

“This election exposed the future picture of Assam. I always say that Badaruddin Ajmal is an idol. For us, Badaruddin Ajmal and Rakibul Hussain are one person. The politics which was done by Badaruddin Ajmal is now followed by other leaders also,” Sarma said addressing a press conference here.

“In this election, Congress victory over 10 lakh votes in Dhubri sent a bad message for Assam. It exposed how much the people would be communal. If you go to any polling booth, you will see that Hindus vote for both BJP and Congress. But Muslims vote for only Congress,” Sarma said.

“They call us (BJP a communal party, but in this election, we saw the reverse route. In a Muslim seat, not a single vote was cast in favour of the BJP. AIUDF’s Muslim votes were shifted to Congress. Congress is now a political party being supported by 100 per cent Muslims,” Sarma also said.

“Earlier we said AIUDF was communal, but all votes were shifted to Congress this time. There is no other communal party in Assam other than Congress<” Sarma further said.

“From now Muslims have adopted Congress. Once they adopted AIUDF but now they adopted Congress. Whether they will remain like that in 2026 they will go back to AIUDF I do not know,” he said.

“We also got some Muslim votes. Assamese Muslims voted for the BKP in Upper Assam and Middle Assam constituencies,” he said.

The chief minister said: “Not even an independent candidate secured any vote in the polling booths in Dhubri, Barpeta and Nagaon. AIUDF also did not secure any votes in many places. Thus, the election was polarized. However, Hindus voted for all political parties bearing a secular character.”

“In Guwahati Mira Borthaklur got 4 lakh votes. But more than 1.5 lakh votes are from a certain constituency. She secured 2 lakh votes from Chamaria constituency. Muslims vote for one party and PMAY houses, benefits of Orunidoi never worked in these places,” the chief minister said

“Development is not a consideration for the election, religion became the prime focus. It was happened never in Assam. Of 4 lakh votes, Mira received 2 lakhs from Chamaria, and 10 to 15 thousand from Garigaon in my constituency. In Guwahati there are 4,20.907 Muslim voters. Of them, 3 lakhs voted for Mira. With a 40 per cent Muslim population in Assam, what will be the situation in the future? Who has done this polarization? If we analyse this, we can save Assam. I save Assam by delimitation,” he said.

“Nothing can save Assam. If the 2021 census report is published, the Muslim population will go up to 40 per cent,” he also said.

However, the chief minister said the victory of the congress party in Jorhat proved that Hindus are secular.

Claiming that the BJP’s vote share increased by 10 per cent compared to the 2021 2019 elections, Sarma said, “BJP contested in 11 seats, while Congress in 14 seats. BJP’s vote share increased by 10 per cent compared to 2019. When you compare coalition to coalition, the vote share of NDA is 46.4 per cent while the vote share of India Alliance is 37.53 per cent.”

“Prime Minister was also surprised at our results. He is happy with Assam. We hope more good things from him,” he said.

He claimed that despite stiff opposition, the BJP and its allies were able to capture 11 seats covering 93 assembly segments across the state.

“Congress vote share has not increased at the cost of BJP. But the AIUDF vote was shifted to Congress. It is their internal dynamics,” the chief minister said.

In Karimganj lot of Muslims voted for us due to local issues. In other constituencies, our candidates won the hearts of Muslims. None of our candidates won over 10 lakh votes, he said.

“The national trend of vote share was increased in Assam after Odisha. I have been asked not to campaign in any of the Northeast, but the party asked to campaign in Eastern Indian states, except Arunachal Pradesh. I could not contribute to the best of my ability in Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya. I was not aware of the situation in the northeastern states. Our party thinks Assam has boundary has boundary disputes with all northeastern states. So, Assam CM should not be seen on these states frequently,” the chief minister said.

“When I talked to our office bearers, they told me that the cause was a religious one. When a religious leader takes part in politics, politicians can’t compete. You can’t compete with the religion. You can compete with Congress, you can compete with BJP or AGP, but how can you compete with religious leaders? When spiritual leaders decide, the politician has to minimize their activities,” the chief minister also said.

But In Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim we had good performance, he claimed.

He also said the people of other northeastern states this time have expressed their grievance through voting, it will be addressed and wiped out.

Refuting the old-new clash in BJP, the chief minister said the new leaders are now deeply rooted in the party and if they were uprooted, it would be a great loss for the party and it will help Congress.

“For the first time, we won 11 seats in the history of Assam BJP. It is golden history; this is the highest peak. I do not know whether we will keep this trend in 2-026 or not,” he added.