Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma says Bangladesh-origin minority community ‘voted for Congress because...’

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma targeted the Bangladesh-origin minority community people and claimed that they voted for the Congress party in the recently held Lok Sabha polls.

The Chief Minister also alleged that the community indulges in “communalism”.

Himanta Biswa Sarma made the remarks on Saturday, at a felicitation programme of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning candidates and its allies at the party’s state headquarters in Guwahati.

The ruling alliance got nearly 47 per cent of the votes, while the Congress and its allies bagged 39 per cent votes, he added.

"If we analyse the 39 per cent votes of the Congress, it is not spread across the state. Fifty per cent of it is concentrated in 21 assembly segments which are minority dominated. In these minority-dominated segments, BJP got 3 per cent votes,” the chief minister said.

“This proves that Hindus do not indulge in communalism. If anyone indulges in communalism in Assam, it is only one community, one religion. No other religion does it,” he added.

Further, the BJP leader said that the minority-dominated areas may have no roads, no electricity, but they have been voting overwhelmingly for Congress and did so again.

Despite the development work done for them by the BJP-led government, these communities have not voted 100 per cent for the saffron party, he claimed.

“Except in Karimganj, if we consider the centres with majority Bangladesh-origin people, 99 per cent of votes have gone to Congress,” he said.

“They (minority people) may be residing in houses given by (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, availing electricity and sanitation facilities provided by Modi, but when they go to vote, they vote for Congress.”

He also claimed that the Bangladesh-origin community will vote for Congress because they want to “control the state in the next 10 years”.

The BJP and allies had won 92 out of 126 assembly segments in this Lok Sabha election, which was the highest ever for any ruling alliance in the state, he added.