GUWAHATI: The BJP, which heads Assam’s three-party ruling coalition and is facing Assembly elections next year, said it was least bothered over the ongoing exercise by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and others to float a “political alternative”.
The state’s Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma exuded confidence the BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) would win 100 of the state’s 126 seats.
“We are focused on winning 100 seats. The focus is similar to that of Arjun (of the Mahabharata) when he had killed a bird with an arrow. We don’t care who our rivals are. With the blessings and good wishes of people in Assam, we will win 100 seats and emerge triumphant,” Sarma told journalists.
“We will bravely face the (envisaged) political party in the polls. We won’t mind if the Congress aligns with it,” he said.
He took a dig at the AASU for its statement that people in the state desired the formation of the political alternative saying if its dentition of “people” was inclusive of those who live in areas of some Lower Assam districts where the Bengali-speaking Muslims are in a large majority.
“We are in the 21st century. People are mature enough to take a correct decision,” the minister added.
The midwifery for the political party in the state’s anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) battlefield is being conducted by motley of leaders from cross-sections of the society, led by the AASU. There are film personalities, singers, musicians, intellectuals, academicians, lawyers, students, et al. The AASU said the work towards floating the party would begin next month.
It was first mooted by popular singer Zubeen Garg. At a rally against CAA in Guwahati last month, he had made a call for it. The idea was instantly backed by AASU president Dipanka Nath who said, “We are thinking in that direction”.
Recently, Nath said, “The state government has surrendered before the Centre (on the issue of CAA). So, it is the desire of people that there is a political alternative that will not stoop to Delhi but work to protect Assam’s interests. The process to achieve it will be taken forward after February”.