Congress chief announces poll win celebrations
Excited for December 3, the day when the votes of Assembly elections in the five states will be counted, Assam Congress chief Bhupen Kumar Borah said his party will celebrate the results in the heart of Guwahati. “The counting of votes will begin at 7 am and by 11:30 am, I will tell you how many seats we will win in Assam [in Lok Sabha polls],” he said. Party MLA Diganta Kalita said Borah has started “another drama” while BJP legislator Manab Deka said, “If Kalita wants to predict, he should do it before the declaration of results.” Ahead of Parliamentary elections, 13 opposition parties have come together to stop the BJP’s juggernaut.
Bhutan King on maiden visit to Assam
Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk was on a maiden three-day visit to Assam—which shares a border with the Himalayan country. He landed at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati on November 3. He first paid a visit to the historic Kamakhya temple in the city, then visited the one-horned rhino fame Kaziranga National Park and took a jeep safari. “I am glad to learn that His Majesty the King of Bhutan enjoyed the rich biodiversity of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park,” CM Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X.
‘Guwahati will become graveyard without Miyas’
All India United Democratic Front chief Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said Guwahati will become a “graveyard” if there are no “Miyas” (a pejorative term for Bengali Muslims) for three days. “Our boys and girls do all kinds of work in Guwahati. When they are away for three days during Eid, Guwahati becomes a kabristan (graveyard),” he said. While it was not clear why he made the statement, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier blamed the Miyas for the high prices of vegetables in Guwahati. He had also said that the BJP does not need the votes of Miyas. Reacting over it, Ajmal had said, “No Miya will vote for BJP for 100 years. We will prove it.”
Prasanta Mazumdar
Our correspondent in Guwahati
prasantamazumdar@newindianexpress.com