Critics say that the BJP lacks issues to fight assembly polls to be held in March-April.
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — The controversial statements made by Assam minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Himanta Biswa Sarma against ‘love jihad’ are actually aimed at dividing society along religious lines ahead of the assembly elections to be held early next year, say activists in the BJP-ruled state.
On Sunday, at a BJP’s Mahila Morcha meeting, Sarma had made communal statements targeting Muslims, including All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajaml.
Needlessly raising the non-existent love jihad issue, Sarma said: “We will have to start a strict fight against love jihad on Assam’s soil. If BJP comes to power, we will take a decision that if any boy hides his religious identity and comments anything negative on Assamese women, he will face rigorous punishment”.
He claimed that “people from the culture of Ajmal (a reference to AIUDF Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, a noted Islamic cleric) were behind “love jihad” in Assam.
Azizurrahman, former President of All Assam Minority Student’s Union (AAMSU) told Clarion India that the minister was making such communal statements out of frustration as the ruling BJP had failed to fulfil the promises it had made to the people of Assam.
“First of all, there is no such concept of love jihad in Assam. Some leaders from the BJP, including Sarma, are raising this issue to do politics. What is the point of talking on an issue which does not matter in the state? All these talks of love jihad are just unfounded claims. They need to prove it if any such thing exists,” said Azizurrahman.
He said that the BJP had no issue to fight assembly polls to be held in March-April given its failures in all development projects. “How will they go to people to seek votes? So, they are bringing up these communal issues and giving baseless statements,” the student leader said.
He also said that Sarma was targeting AIUDF leader Ajmal thinking that he was just a Muslim leader but the fact was that the latter was leader of all communities.
Another social activist, Abdul Baten Khandkar, who runs an NGO, Brahmoputra Valley Civil Society, echoed the opinion of Azizurrahman that Sarma was making such statements only to polarise voters ahead of the elections for the 12-member assembly.
“This allegation of love jihad is a blatant lie. There is no such thing in Assam. It just does not exist in the state. They will try their best to make it an electoral issue. They will not succeed in this,” he said.
Khandkar said that while the BJP wanted to divide society, their favourite media houses were busy in amplifying the saffron party’s communal statements. “But people are conscious about it. Some Hindus are also disapproving of these communal statements. They will not succeed in their communal plan.”
