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Hindus Voted On Merit But A 'Particular Community' Supported Congress Despite BJP's Development Works: Assam CM Himanta Sarma
Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma(Photo: Himanta Biswa Sarma/Facebook)
In an apparent critique of Muslims, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday (22 June) claimed that Hindus in the state do not engage in communalism and accused the minority community of overwhelmingly supporting the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections despite the development efforts of his BJP government.
"I proudly say that the Hindu community in Assam did not do politics of appeasement. Hindus have voted on merit. But a particular community has done such tactical voting that no matter how much development has taken place in their area, the community has given its 100 per cent vote to the Congress," Sarma stated at a felicitation event for victorious MPs of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Guwahati.
"One thing this election proved is that Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If someone commits communalism in Assam, one community does it, one religion does it, and no other religion commits communalism there. This election is proof of that," Sarma added.
The NDA has secured 11 out of 14 seats in Assam in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while the INDI Alliance bloc, led by the Congress has won the remaining three seats.
Criticising the Congress for its policies during its time in power in Assam until 2016, Sarma said, "During the Congress days, the minority community was living in misery due to poverty. There were no roads, no electricity in minority areas, and no consideration of price hikes."
"No matter what we have done, the minority votes went to the Congress, and this time they also showered their votes on them," he continued.
He also noted that none of the BJP MPs won by a margin of 10-12 lakh votes.
"If we look at the polling stations of minority people of Bangladeshi origin in Assam, excluding Karimganj, the Congress received 99 out of 100 votes," he said.
Although Sarma did not specify the exact locations of Bangladeshi-origin residents in Assam, the issue of foreigners in Assam has been contentious, leading to the revision of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which revealed that 19.06 lakh people were excluded from the revised draft released in 2019.
Sarma further stated, "Earlier, their contract was with (All India United Democratic Front founder) Badruddin Ajmal. Now the contract has been transferred to (Congress leader) Rakibul Hussain. Only the contract was changed, but not the team. The idea of communalist thought has not changed.”
Hussain defeated Ajmal by a record margin of 10,12,476 votes in the Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency.
He highlighted that the NDA made history by leading in 92 out of 126 Assembly segments in Assam and achieving close to 50 per cent of the vote share.
"NDA constituents have secured 47 per cent of the vote share, and with the blessings of the people, it will cross 50 per cent in the 2026 Assembly polls," he concluded.
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