The video is a reflection of the ‘true face of the fascist regime’, which has harboured this hatred for decades and, in the last 11 years, tried to normalise it, the party says
NEW DELHI – The obnoxious video on the X platform by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam purportedly showing “targeted point-blank murder of minorities” has attracted condemnation from different quarters. Several individuals described the anti-Muslim hate depicted in the video as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s lowest of morality and quite unexpected of a man occupying a constitutional post.
The video, which has now been deleted after widespread uproar, showed Sarma purportedly taking aim with a rifle and firing a shot at two people – one wearing a skull cap and the other with a beard, with “point-blank shot” as the caption.
Taking to X, Congress on its official handle said the deletion of the said video shows fear, not strength.
Condemning the video, Congress said it is deeply abhorrent and disturbing and cannot be dismissed as random troll content. This amounts to a call to mass violence and genocide, it said.
“It is a reflection of the true face of this fascist regime, which has harboured this hatred for decades and, in the last 11 years, tried to normalise it,” the party said.
“Considering the gravity of the matter, there must be strict action against this act of spreading disharmony and poison in society,” it said.
The Congress post also said it was clear there can be no hope from the prime minister to condemn and ensure accountability for this. However, the judiciary must step in firmly, it said.
KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary in charge of the organisation, also slammed the BJP for the hate shown by the Assam chief minister and the BJP.
“An official BJP handle posted a video showing the targeted, ‘point-blank’ murder of minorities. This is nothing but a call to genocide – a dream this fascist regime has harboured for decades,” Venugopal said on X.
This is not an innocuous video to be ignored as troll content, but as poison spread from the very top, and there must be consequences for this, he said.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said that deleting the video was not enough.
“This is what the BJP really is: Mass murderers. This venom, hatred and violence is on you, Mr Modi. Are the courts and other institutions sleeping?” she said on X.
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed, tagging a post to Narendra Modi said, @narendramodi, you talk about ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, but your favourite man, Himanta Biswa Sarma, made a video shooting Muslims and got it posted from the official handle of BJP Assam.”
“This is an attack on the Indian Constitution. I am shocked that the Supreme Court of India is acting as a mute spectator. The court’s silence and failure to take suo motu cognisance puts its role into question,” she added.
Kerala Congress on its official X handle said, “BJP has lost all pretensions that they’ve officially started giving open calls for minority genocide, that too by showing a chief minister who is under the constitutional oath shooting Muslims down!
“Why did the BJP time this Muslim genocide post with Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country and when he is enjoying the warm hospitality of their Muslim leadership? What’s the message Modi is giving prime minister @anwaribrahim who laid out a red carpet for him.” the post further reads.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also slammed the BJP.
Taking to X, she said: “The BJP Assam Pradesh X handle posted one of the most hate-driven, targeted videos titled ‘Point Blank Shot’; after outrage, it went on to delete the post, but it was there long enough for many people to download and spread it further.”
“Shamelessly, EC will ignore this vilest form of hate and political targeting. Toothless and useless, literally, in front of BJP,” she said.
