SHILLONG: The BJP has rubbished allegations that it is a communal party.
A joint statement issued by KS Lyngdoh, president of BJP and its general secretary Dipayan Chakraborty said that the accusations against the BJP of being a communal party is baseless and unfounded.
According to BJP, the Congress should make a soul searching for its indulgence in communal politics and the recent act of practicing communal politics was the one enacted by the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in her secret meeting with Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari.
“Isn’t it the grand-old Congress party who had formulated anti-conversion laws in the country? Isn’t it the Congress government who passed these laws in Odhisha, Madhya Pradesh and the Arunachal Pradesh? Freedom of Religion Act, 1978 was also enacted to prohibit conversion from one religious faith to another”, the state leaders of the BJP said.
If BJP is anti-christian or a non-secular national party, how did the Christian faithful in Christian-dominated states like Goa or for that matter in Nagaland vote for the BJP candidates, they asked.
The BJP leaders further said that in Meghalaya, the people in certain assembly constituencies had elected BJP candidates who belonged to the Christian community as legislators.
“Can we call our late BJP leader TH Rangad an anti-Christian person? In short time, as a leader and a minister, he had served the people of Meghalaya with honesty and sincerity as a true Christian leader”, the BJP said.
The State BJP also expressed surprise over the communal charge on BJP by Congress legislator AL Hek, who had contested and won assembly elections on BJP ticket in the past on several terms.
The State BJP leaders said that if elected to power, the BJP will enact stringent laws to curb the entry of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to Meghalaya and the rest of the Northeast.
“Our central leaders in Delhi have also assured leaders of the North East Regional Party Forum to enact a stringent law to tackle the illegal immigrants”, the state leaders said.
The state BJP also said that several steps will be taken to provide employments to the educated youths besides ensuring infrastructure and economic development across the state. Moreover, the state BJP leaders said that if elected to power, BJP will roll out several agriculture programmes to boost economic development in the rural areas of Meghalaya.
“The BJP will eliminate the culture of middle men and ensure direct access for the farming community by setting up a special farmers’ cell to facilitate selling of the agriculture and horticulture products,” they said.