NEW DELHI: Assam Chief Minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma
on Saturday asserted that members of the Bangladesh-origin minority community predominantly voted for the
Congress
in the recent 18th Lok Sabha elections, disregarding the developmental work done by the BJP-led governments at both the Centre and state levels.
He also claimed that the community is the only one in Assam that engages in communalism while speaking at a felicitation programme of winning candidates of the BJP and its allies at the party’s state headquarters.
“If we analyse the 39 per cent votes of the Congress, it is not spread across the state. Fifty per cent of it is concentrated in 21 assembly segments which are minority-dominated. In these minority-dominated segments, BJP got 3 per cent votes,” said Sarma.
“This proves that Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If anyone indulges in communalism in Assam, it is only one community, one religion. No other religion does it,” the CM said without naming any sect.
Sarma alleged that despite the lack of basic infrastructure like roads and electricity in minority-dominated areas, the community has consistently voted for Congress, including in the recent elections. While, the Assamese and tribal communities, for whom the BJP has been working, have not voted fully for the saffron party, accused the Assam CM.
“Except in Karimganj, if we consider the centres with majority Bangladesh-origin people, 99 per cent of votes have gone to Congress,” he said.
“They (minority people) may be residing in houses given by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, availing electricity and sanitation facilities provided by Modi, but when they go to vote, they vote for Congress,” Sarma claimed.
He also alleged that the Bangladesh-origin community supports Congress with the objective to “control the state in the next 10 years”.
Sarma went on to accuse members of the community of attacking a police station in Lakhimpur, a village in Barpeta, and attempting to encroach land in Kokrajhar during the period when the BJP government was restricted due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
“When BJP government will not be there, one can only imagine how many such attacks will happen,” he added.
The chief minister also remarked on the BJP and its allies’ significant victory, having won 92 out of 126 assembly segments in this
Lok Sabha election
, which he noted as the highest ever for any ruling alliance in Assam.
“This time, we got 47 per cent votes. Our target will be to get 50 per cent of the votes in 2026 state polls,” the BJP leader said.
(With agency inputs)
