By PTI
GUWAHATI: The Congress, which faces an imminent defeat in the Assam polls, has become desperate and might resort to politics to divide the society in the state but the BJP will never allow this, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.
Referring to the grand alliance of opposition parties, including Congress, Left parties and AIUDF, formed for the three-phase state elections, he said the Congress’ leadership has thoroughly exposed itself by turning away from its ideological position by seeking the “support offered by an overtly communal outfit headed by Badruddin Ajmal”.
The Ajmal headed All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) is considered to have a large base among Assam’s about 35 per cent Muslim population.
“The BJP is a party with a consistent ideology of justice to all sections of society without appeasement. The Congress may have become desperate enough to resort to politics of dividing the society in Assam, but we shall never allow this to happen,” Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, told PTI.
In the last seven years, because of the constant outreach of Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi and diligent efforts of Home Minister Amit Shah, “we have succeeded in restoring peace and harmony, and we shall not allow the Congress to undo this just for vote bank politics”, said Singh, who is also the BJP’s co-incharge for Assam.
Polling will be held in 47 seats in Assam on March 27 in the first phase, while 39 and 40 constituencies will go to polls on April 1 and April 6 respectively.
Addressing a poll rally at the Mangaldoi area late on Saturday night, Singh had accused the Congress of seeking alliances out of desperation as it faces imminent defeat in the elections.
“Suddenly the Congress has decided to seek the support offered by an overtly communal outfit headed by Badruddin Ajmal,” the minister said.
He claimed that it was the same Badruddin, whom till 2016, Congress’ senior leader and the then Assam chief minister late Tarun Gogoi had vehemently opposed being associated with in spite of suggestions from certain quarters.
“So much so, when a media person once asked Gogoi about any possibility of an alliance with Badruddin Ajmal, Gogoi had retorted back angrily saying ‘Who is Badruddin?’, but unfortunately, today the same Badruddin has become the face and identity of the Congress in Assam,” Singh said.
The grand alliance comprising Congress, AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) and the RJD has been formed in Assam to contest the election to the 126-member assembly against the BJP-led NDA.
BJP national general secretary and MP from Mangaldoi, Dilip Saikia, while addressing the rally, said it is remarkable how Jitendra Singh, who belonged to Jammu and Kashmir, had made the North East his second home and earned the respect and love of the local people.
Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur, is also the minister of state for the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
He said, BJP will never allow Badruddin to play the politics of hatred and separatism as was done by some leaders in Kashmir and elsewhere.
