‘Hindus do not indulge in communalism, it is only one community, one religion…’: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that the minority community of Bangladeshi origin overwhelmingly supported the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections despite the BJP’s development efforts. He alleged that they were doing this without recognizing the development efforts of the BJP-led governments at the state and central levels. Sarma further claimed that this community is the only one in Assam known for participating in communal activities.

Addressing the winning BJP and allied candidates at the party’s state headquarters, Sarma highlighted that their ruling alliance secured nearly 47% of the total votes cast. In contrast, he noted that Congress and its allies managed to secure 39% of the votes in the recent elections.

The BJP-AGP-UPPL coalition secured victory in 11 of Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress managed to win the remaining three seats.

“If we analyze the 39 percent vote of Congress, it is not spread across the state. Fifty percent of these are concentrated in 21 minority-dominated assembly segments. In these minority-dominated segments, the BJP got 3 percent votes. ,” he claimed.

“This proves that Hindus are not indulging in communalism. When one indulges in communal life in Assam, it is only one community, one religion. No other religion does that,” the chief minister claimed, without naming any sect.

He said that despite the lack of basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity in minority-dominated regions, these areas consistently vote for the Congress party. While the BJP, on the other hand, has focused on development initiatives for the Assamese people and tribal communities, their electoral support has not been unanimous, he added.

“Except in Karimganj, if we look at the centers where the majority are from Bangladesh, 99 percent of the votes have gone to the Congress,” he said.

“They (minority people) may live in houses given by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and use electricity and sanitation provided by Modi, but when they vote, they vote for Congress,” Sarma alleged.

He claimed that the Bangladeshi origin community plans to support the Congress to gain control of the state within the next decade.

Sarma accused members of this community of attacking a police station in Lakhimpur village in Barpeta and trying to encroach on land in Kokrajhar at a time when the BJP government was allegedly inactive due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

“If the BJP government will not be there, one can only imagine how many such attacks will take place,” he added.

The Chief Minister highlighted that during these Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and its allies secured victories in 92 of the 126 assembly segments, which is the highest ever achieved by any ruling alliance in the state.

“This time we got 47 percent of the votes. Our target will be to get 50 percent votes by 2026,” the BJP leader added.

Sarma emphasized that the BJP is engaged in nation building politics and will continue to work for the development of all parts irrespective of whether its candidate has won in those areas or not.