GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam has made light of the perceived threats from the tie-up of opposition parties in the upcoming Assembly elections. The birth of two regional parties — Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dal — and the alliance between Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) are believed to have made the BJP’s task difficult. However, the party’s state unit chief Ranjit Dass claimed two “As” would help the BJP retain power.
“I am confident we will form the next government. Two ‘As’ are the reasons. One A stands for the “activities” of our party workers. Another A stands for the “achievements” of our government. Additionally, we have the blessings of people,” Dass said. He claimed the voters in Upper Assam were upset with the Congress for aligning with minority-based AI UDF and it would help the BJP in at least eight seats. “The AIUDF-Congress alliance may have some relevance in Lower Assam and Barak Valley. It is not a factor elsewhere. In Lower Assam, we have just three sitting MLAs.
If at all we suffer, we will suffer there. But the mind set of Muslims have started changing. This was evident in the bye-elections to Jania. We got 15,000 votes. Never before did we poll more than 5,000 votes there,” Dass said. Stating that the Muslims do not mean Congress or AI UDF and all communities reaped the dividends of the government’s welfare programmes, Dass said, adding there used to be incidents of violence against Muslims during the Congress rule but the community had not suffered even a scratch under the BJP.
“Of the seven lakh beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana, 2.8 lakh were Muslims,” Dass said. He said the AJP-Raijor Dal would not be able to wean away lakhs of votes in Upper Assam. He felt the BJP would also do well in the Bodoland Territorial Region that has 12 assembly seats.