From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Assam minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, while reiterating the government’s stand of ‘having no issues with a democratic agitation’, asserted that his party had the ‘power and courage’ to take on any ‘alternative political party’ which may be floated against the current dispensation.
“Let me tell you that those who are talking about creating a political party (in the wake of agitation against CAA), the BJP is powerful and strong to take any party. We will accept the challenge politically and prove that we can win 100 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections in the state,” Sarma said, while addressing a rally of Assam BJP booth-level presidents and karyakartas here on Saturday.
However, even as there has been talk of such an ‘alternative political party’ at certain forums of organisations staging the ongoing agitation, there has been no official confirmation by any organisation in this regard till date.
The minister said that people were within their rights to have differing opinions on issues in a democracy.
“However, we are against unscrupulous elements taking advantage of a democratic movement and disrupting peace in the state,” he asserted.
The rally was organised by the Assam BJP at the Khanapara playground as part of the party’s campaign to reach out to people in the wake of state-wide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the incumbent BJP-led governments at the Centre and state.
A few days back, opposition Congress, too, had organised a programme at the same venue, where former All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi had countered the incumbent government’s policies.
Sarma reiterated party’s commitment to work for the people of the state and pledged that till BJP was in power, “not a single foreigner entering the state after December 2014 would be given Indian citizenship.”
He accused the Congress for policies that allegedly helped influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh to Assam.
“The Congress had ‘breached public trust’ in regard to the cut-off year, which should have been 1951 instead of 1971, as agreed upon while signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. Therefore, many illegal immigrants between the period were made Indian citizens,” Sarma alleged.
In regard to the people who would be granted citizenship if CAA came into effect, the minister asserted that not a single foreigner entering and settling in the state after 2014 would be granted citizenship.
“Mark my words, the number of people eligible for citizenship (under CAA) will not exceed 5 lakh. Now, these are not new people entering the state but who have settled between the years 1972 and 2004,” he said.