GUWAHATI: Assam MLA and Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi apologised to the people of the state for his remarks that Muslims who vote for the BJP are “kaafirs and will be punished by God.”
“I apologise to the people of Assam for what I said. I shouldn’t have said so,” Gogoi said in a video message with folded hands.
He also tendered an unconditional apology to his party colleagues who were offended by his remarks.
“I had deviated from progressive and rational thinking. I made a mistake. I will not make such a comment in the future,” the RTI activist-turned-Sivasagar MLA said.
Citing stress due to hectic panchayat poll campaigning, he said his remarks were sudden and not well thought out. He had made the remarks during campaigning in the Lakhimpur district on Saturday.
For the past few days, Gogoi has been vitriolic in his attack on not only the ruling BJP but also opposition parties. He had called the minority-based party All India United Democratic Front the “B team” of the BJP, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and Congress leader Debabrata Saikia the “agents” of the BJP and slammed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his alleged “divisive” politics.