SHILLONG, Jan 17: The flagging Meghalaya Congress seems to have found fresh fodder to hit out at its political nemesis, BJP and by extension its allies, highlighting the ‘religion card’ yet again.
On Monday, MPCC president Vincent H Pala had launched a frontal attack on the saffron party by urging people not to vote for these anti-Christian parties and a day later, Congress MP from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi fired another salvo at the BJP by claiming that the saffron brigade does not believe in the concept of “all religions are equal”.
“The BJP neither believes in the concept of religion nor do they believe that all religions are equal whereas we are a party that framed the Constitution and we believe in the ethos of the Indian civilization and the Indian Constitution that all religions are equal and we all have to live like brothers and sisters,” Gogoi said.
He referred to Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and said the yatra was sending a message that all are equal. The Constitution says one can be a Hindu or a Christian but are all equal before the law, he added.
“These ideals are completely opposite to what the BJP feels. In Assam just a few days before Christmas, churches were being surveyed. Now what kind of message is the BJP in Assam trying to send?” he questioned.
Responding to the claims of the BJP that no government can be formed in Meghalaya without them, Gogoi said: “They talk big…in the recent elections that took place in Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, BJP won just one out of the three and Congress won one. They also talk big like Rs 15 lakh, two crores jobs and Digital India…but in the end these are just jumlas (phrases).”
Gogoi went on to say that the BJP’s assertion that no government can be formed in Meghalaya without them was nothing less than threat to the people of Meghalaya.
Citing the case of West Bengal, he said the BJP had tried the same with the people there and they were taught a lesson. The people of Meghalaya should similarly punish the BJP and not succumb to their threats, he stated.
