3 months ago
40
NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, who is in Assam with his "
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
", has been engaged in a bitter war of words with chief minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma
. Rahul has been unsparing in his attacks on Sarma, repeatedly calling him the most corrupt chief minister in the country. Sarma, on the other hand, has referred to Rahul as Ravan. The Assam chief minister has also announced that
Rahul Gandhi
would be arrested after the Lok Sabha polls are over.
The Assam chief minister had ordered cops to lodge FIR after
Congress
supporters broke police barricades when the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was denied entry into Guwahati. Sarma accused Congress leaders of using "Naxalite tactics" to provoke crowds. The Guwahati Police suo motu registered an FIR against Rahul and other leaders for wanton acts of violence in the state capital.
The Congress termed the police case as a "political FIR" without any factual basis and said legal remedies will be explored in due course. Rahul reacted strongly and dared the police to file more FIRs against him. "I don't know how Himanta Biswa Sarma got the idea that he can intimidate me by filing cases. File as many cases as you can. File 25 more cases, I am not going to be intimidated. BJP-RSS can't intimidate me," Rahul said.
The Congress leader also alleged that the Assam chief minister is “remote-controlled” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and claimed that Sarma will be “thrown out” if he spoke for the welfare of Assam.
Rahul continued with his attacks on Sarma. On the 7th Day of his Nyay Yatra, Rahul said "While he (Sarma) speaks to you, he steals your land. While you chew betel nut, he corners the supari business. He steals money from your pocket. He has taken land in Kaziranga National Park also."
"HBS (acronym for Himanta Biswa Sarma) wakes up with hatred in his heart. He hates all the people in the world. He speaks hatred and fear for 24 hours. The fight is not against him, but the hatred in his heart", he added.
Referring to the media conglomerate owned by the wife of Assam Chief Minister, Gandhi alleged that TV media shows what Sarma wants in the state.
"Sarma is controlled by Amit Shah. If anyone says anything against Amit Shah, he is thrown out by Sarma within two minutes. Tarun Gogoi was also a CM, but he did what Assam wanted. Tarun Gogoi was my guru, but I never told him what to do", he claimed.
Rahul also accused the Himanta government in Assam of insulting the pride of the state.
"The BJP-RSS wants to wipe out the language, culture and history of Assam. They want to end the education given by your ancestors. They want to run Assam from Nagpur, but we will not allow it. Assam will be run from Assam only", Rahul said.
Addressing another rally in Dhubri district, Rahul claimed BJP and Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF are partners in the state and are two sides of the same coin. He alleged that Ajmal works as per instructions by Sarma and both help each other in the elections.
"In Assam, Congress is fighting BJP against BJP and its B team Ajmal. We cannot compromise with any of the two -- BJP and AIUDF. We will defeat BJP in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. And for that, we need to defeat its B team Ajmal too," Rahul said.
Clearly, the bitterness between the two leaders is much more than political. Sarma, who was once a prominent Congress leader of the state, quit the grand old party accusing Rahul of being casual about Assam. Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his book has written about how Rahul prevented Himanta from becoming the chief minister of Assam during Congress rule despite the fact that he had support of majority MLAs. Himanta, himself, has mentioned about his "unplesant" interactions with Rahul Gandhi when he was in the Congress. Ironically, Sarma has been instrumental in ensuring the spread of the BJP across the northeast wiping out the Congress from state after state in the region.
English (US) ·