UDALGURI: The BJP in Assam is pinning hopes on getting Muslim votes by riding on the prevailing peace and “equal treatment” of communities by the government.
The state has 14 Lok Sabha seats and the Muslims have sizeable voters in six of them – Dhubri, Barpeta, Nagaon, Darrang-Udalguri, Karimganj and Silchar.
Talking to journalists after attending an event of NDA constituents here on Saturday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told journalists he does not find any reason why the Muslims would not vote for the BJP.
“For the first time, the minorities got a taste of good governance. There is neither any communal tension nor is there any Hindu-Muslim conflict. There is also no conflict between tribals and non-tribals. People are freely taking part in religious activities. They are at peace and not facing any problem,” Sarma said.
He said the Muslims also possessed ration cards while roads and bridges had been built also in Muslim areas.
“I don’t think the Muslim society wants anything more than this. But if they do not vote for us this time around, we have to analyse where we faulted because we have not ill-performed anywhere. We treated all people equally, truly living by the slogan of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas,” Sarma said.
He said he had seen people cutting across communities turning up at all his election rallies.
To a query, he said the BJP was working hard and not complacent. He said he has 32 election programmes, beginning with a 13 km bicycle ride in Majuli on April 1.
In the past few elections, Sarma had been spot on with his prediction of seats for the parties. On Saturday, he said the BJP would win at least 11 of Assam’s 14 seats, two more than its 2019 tally of nine.
As regards the Northeast which has altogether 25 seats, he predicted that 22 of them would go to NDA. The BJP is not contesting seven seats in the region following its understanding with NDA partners.