GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the NDA’s landslide victory in the Assembly elections was a vote for development, “Nari Shakti”, Assamese identity, and the vision of a “Viksit” Assam.
Addressing the media, he said it was a historic win, marking the first instance of an alliance securing more than 100 seats in the state.
“The huge mandate reflects the mood of the people — from Barak to Brahmaputra, and Upper to Lower Assam — who firmly stood with the narrative of development and identity,” he said.
Thanking the people for reposing their trust in the BJP, he said the party’s efforts to place Assam among the country’s top five states would continue with greater vigour.
Attacking the Congress, he said people had punished the party for its alleged “dirty politics” over the late music icon Zubeen Garg.
“I do not think Zubeen Garg was an issue in the elections. I had always believed he was above politics. The inclusion of the Zubeen Garg issue in the Congress manifesto only took the party away from the people. I feel people punished the Congress for such dirty politics,” Sarma said.
Referring to the “three Gogois” — Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi, Raijor Dal’s Akhil Gogoi, and Assam Jatiya Parishad’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi — he alleged there was a conspiracy to divide Assamese society along community lines. He said Assam’s politics had never been based on surnames, communities, or castes.
“In the long political history of Assam, from former Chief Ministers Gopinath Bordoloi to Sarbananda Sonowal, politics based on surnames was unheard of. People rejected this and ensured the defeat of two of the three Gogois,” Sarma said.
He added that the BJP in Assam includes members from various communities, including the Ahom community, which he said contributed to the landslide victory.
Continuing his criticism of the Congress, he said, “I had said earlier that the Congress does not have an atmosphere for Hindus to stay. That is why we had welcomed leaders such as Bhupen Kumar Borah and Pradyut Bordoloi.”
He added that he would appeal to other Hindu leaders in the Congress to join the BJP platform and work together to protect Assamese people from the aggression of Bangladeshi “Miyas” — a pejorative term used in Assam for Bengali Muslims.
Akhil Gogoi, who won from the Sivasagar seat, said he would have been happier if Gaurav Gogoi and Lurinjyoti Gogoi had also won.
