GUWAHATI, Sept 1: The ruling BJP in Assam has described Opposition Congress’ move to discontinue its alliance with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) as “nothing more than a political gimmick”.
The state BJP claimed that the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF was formed under the patronage of several “fundamentalist agencies and sponsored by the Congress” and has been working to help the Congress since the day the party was founded.
Assam BJP spokesperson Pabitra Margherita said that at a time when both the BJP-led alliance in the state government and the party are extending help to the flood-affected people and also cooperating in distribution of vaccines, the Congress and the AIUDF are busy distracting the people with “their drama of alliance and separation”.
“Every Assamese knows that this immoral alliance between the two parties was always there, is present today and will continue to exist in the future. Since the Assembly by-elections will be held mainly in the areas dominated by the indigenous people, the Congress does not need the help of the AIUDF this time around as these constituencies do not have a large number of Bengali-speaking Muslims,” Margherita said.
He further said that voters in Assam have already rejected the Congress in the last Assembly elections because of its alliance with AIUDF.
Stating that the two parties are trying to mislead the people, Margherita predicted that the separation would be temporary and that the AIUDF would return to the alliance once the by-election is over.
“The understanding and kinship of the two parties can be easily understood from the context of the last 2019 Lok Sabha elections even when the alliance was not officially announced. The AIUDF did not field its own candidates in the two constituencies which led to the victory of Gaurav Gogoi and Pradyut Bordoloi, Congress candidates respectively from Kaliabor and Nagaon,” he stated.
“Only for the planned aid from AIUDF, the Congress was able to have 1,76,478 votes instead of 15,992 votes by the Mitrajut (BJP-led alliance) at Dhing and 1,44,384 by Congress instead of 22,495 votes by the Mitrajut at Rupohihat. That is why, for the priority of AIUDF at Dhing and Rupohihaat, Gaurav Gogoi was able to stand as winner at Kaliabor even without support from indigenous people,” he said.
“Similar informal alliance was also seen in the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency. The results of Assembly constituencies under Nagaon Lok Sabha show that the BJP candidate was leading in almost all of the Assembly constituencies except for Lahorighat and Janumamukh, which are dominated by Bengali-speaking Muslims and had the direct cooperation of the AIUDF,” Margherita said.
He further asserted that the people of Assam would never hand over their cultural, social, economic and political rights to “the malicious partnership of the Congress and AIUDF”.
“So this drama of breaking the alliance is only for a few days and it cannot deviate the people of Assam from their resolve,” he said.