Guwahati: Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Friday accused the BJP of diverting attention from key issues in Assam Assembly elections by creating controversies out of nothing and shaping the public discourse around them.
Khera, in an interview with PTI, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Congress of trying to bring in the Communal Violence Bill is a “very strange statement” from a man who has been in power at the Centre for almost 12 years.
“His party is also ruling Assam for the last 10 years, yet they have to go back to ancient history, misinterpret things and try to shift focus from their failures,” he said.
“Why do they have to twist facts, why from 2014, and this shows the PM knows there is not much to talk about in terms of BJP’s achievements,” the Chairman of the AICC’s Publicity department said.
Regarding Shah’s assertion that the BJP is against infiltrators and not opposed to indigenous Assamese Muslims, Khera asked, “Why don’t they say they adhere to the 1985 Assam Accord – that is the solution of every debate.”
“The BJP is trying to polarise first and then to differentiate between indigenous Muslims and outsiders is a very designed and curated campaign to divide indigenous people of Assam – whether they are Hindus or Muslims,” he asserted.
The BJP is hoping that polarisation becomes an election issue, but “I don’t see it happening on the ground as I travel across the state”.
Regarding AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi campaigning for the AIUDF, the Congress leader said everybody has the right to campaign during elections, and he also has that right.
On Owaisi’s claim that Muslims cannot expect anything from the Congress, Khera said that he should remember that the ruling party in Assam is the BJP, so why does he have to attack the Congress.
“Any serious student of politics, particularly in Assam, knows that all these distractions – Owaisi is another distraction- has been planted by the BJP to try and divide votes,” he said.
Assam Congress President Gaurav Gogoi’s allegation that AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma are in league, he said it is not their party’s narrative but a fact – “whether it is Owaisi or Ajmal, they are clearly in league with the BJP”.
Khera asserted the CM’s politics is very soon coming to an end –people who change parties “to get power and access to more money, as in his case, are not leaders but mercenaries on hire whom the highest bidder will get, and in his case, Shah was the highest bidder, and he got Sarma on his side.”
“Such leaders whose careers were built by the Congress party and could be disloyal to it, cannot be expected to be loyal to Assam, and the last 5 years of Sarma’s tenure show it,” he said.
Regarding two senior leaders – Pradyut Bordoloi and Bhupen Borah – leaving Congress to join BJP, Khera said they should be asked these questions and “there are pressures that come to all of us from other parties, but most of us do not succumb as we have nothing to hide or fear.”
“Congress is a 140-year-old party that has withstood a lot of betrayals, ups and downs, stress and troughs, but we have survived,” he said.
This has been possible because the workers, the top leadership of the party has an “unmistakable, unmitigated, unalloyed commitment to the ideology of the Constitution of India – the ideology that defines the ancient wisdom of India,” he said.
People who can understand the wisdom of India will never “indulge in the Hindu-Muslim debate, never try to switch sides, never betray the ideology that has nurtured their careers,” he asserted.
Regarding the chief minister’s allegations against Gaurav Gogoi having Pakistani links, Khera alleged that he (Sarma) has completely lost his sanity.
“I used to think the CM was a sane, normal person, but I am afraid he is not. Not many people can maintain their sanity when they see defeat,” Khera said.
“People are laughing at these allegations…they are in power both in the Centre and state, they should not just accuse someone but take action. They are not doing so because they know this is a lie,” he asserted.
On national BJP leaders not raising this issue during the poll campaign, Khera said, “I would hate to admit it, but perhaps the PM and Shah are very slightly more sensible than the CM.”
Asked about chief minister Sarma alleging that Congress is politicising singer Zubeen Garg’s death, Khera countered, “Is seeking justice for him wrong, should anybody react in the way the CM did…should this not be their priority too, should the immediate need for justice be a common consensus.”
“Why should we debate this, why should the CM have any objection to it…is he trying to help someone, to hide something, trying to protect someone, people are doubting why he is opposed to justice for Zubeen. I am very happy and proud, the Congress brought this up,” he asserted.
Khera said it is difficult to imagine the forthcoming Bihu festival without Zubeen’s voice, people’s sentiments are hurt and “whenever his death is mentioned, we see sadness in their eyes and as a responsible party we need to respond to that sense of sorrow.”
He claimed there is a sentiment of betrayal by the BJP in the state during the last five years among all sections and that “is a very sorry state for any government to be in”.
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