‘In Bengal, Assam and Bihar, demography will be a key poll factor for next 20 years’: Himanta Sarma
“If women’s quota had been possible within 543 seats of Parliament, Sonia Gandhi would have implemented it long ago,” says the Assam CM on campaign trail in Bengal
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) recently lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Sarma for making “communally charged and inciting remarks” at an election rally in Cooch Behar. (File Photo) Campaigning for the West Bengal Assembly elections, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma rejected the charge of trying to polarise voters, saying his objection was only to “Bangladeshi Muslims”. In West Bengal, he added, “both Hindus and Muslims” were looking for change.
“I never say Hindu-Muslim, only Bangladeshi Muslims,” he said, speaking to a group of media editors at the Bagdogra airport, moments after a high-energy public rally in what is considered a safe seat for the BJP.
“Some people always skip the word ‘Bangladeshi’ when I talk about Bangladeshi Muslims and turn it around to Hindu-Muslim,” he said, adding that the sentiments of “indigenous Muslims and Hindus” were being discounted.
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) recently lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Sarma for making “communally charged and inciting remarks” at an election rally in Cooch Behar.
Suggesting that most of the 27% Muslims in the state comprised Bangladeshi Muslims, Sarma said the TMC started with the advantage of this percentage already behind it, particularly as the Congress and CPI(M) were “not in the picture”. “Mamata is very pro-Bangladeshi Muslims… let me clarify,” he said, when asked about the BJP charge that the TMC chief practised appeasement politics.
Asked what the main issue in this election was, Sarma replied: “In Bengal, Assam and Bihar, demography will continue to be a key point of elections for the next 20 years… Indigenous people, native people are struggling every day. They feel the punch every day. We, from Delhi, we don’t feel the punch.”
On the defeat of the Bills that the Centre sought to bring in the recent Parliament Session, linking it to implementation of women’s quota, Sarma said the Opposition’s vote against the legislation will hurt it. “Aspirational women, young students, college-going students, university-going students… the Opposition will have to answer them on why they voted against the Bills.”
He called the Opposition’s charge that the Centre was trying to bring in delimitation using the women’s quota as “a Left argument”. “In a nutshell, people wanted to see women’s reservation this time. Within 543 (seats in Parliament), it will never be possible… you have geography, you have ethnic aspirations… Within 543, had it been possible, (Congress leader) Sonia Gandhi would have implemented it long ago.”
While Sarma said the mood in north Bengal, where he has been campaigning, showed change was imminent in the state, he dodged questions regarding who the CM candidate would be if the BJP won in the state. “That is not a big thing… Prime Minister Modi can sit one day and tell (BJP president) Nitin Nabin on phone who will be the CM… Let me tell you, all this talk about who will be the CM, this is a matter of discussion in the Congress. In the BJP, this is not even a matter of discussion. I just came back from Assam. I fought the elections there… fought with my life. It is possible that within a year, I am told I will no longer be the CM… There is no problem… We do not have a lot of slots for individual aspirations here (in the BJP),” he said.
Asked whether he would be willing to move to the Centre if asked by the BJP high command, Sarma quipped: “If they let me sit at home now, I will be happier. Even if there is a five-year break, I will be happier.”
About people within the BJP not being happy with his fast rise within the party, after having come from the Congress, Sarma said: “Someone or the other always moves forward. The world is not static… Someone gets pulled ahead, moves forward… These are normal games.”
On questions about the BJP’s promise to improve Bengal’s economic growth, when the state’s per capita income was 30% more than of Assam, Sarma pulled out data on his phone, including from ChatGPT and Grok, to stress that his state was improving rapidly.
“Assam is the fastest-growing economy in the country as of now… Bengal is growing at 9-10 per cent. We are growing at 15-16 per cent,” Sarma said, reading out numbers.
Comparing the public health infrastructure of the two states, the BJP leader said: “You go to any government hospital in Kolkata and to any government hospital in Assam. It’s like hell and heaven.”
Bengal started out with an advantage, Sarma said, as Kolkata was once the capital of British India. But now people of the state migrate to Gujarat and Delhi in search of work and are not happy, he said.
Sarma started campaigning in Bengal after Assam voted on April 9. The West Bengal Assembly Election will be held in two phases: Phase 1 on April 23 and Phase 2 on April 29.
Share
