Guwahati: Assam Health, Education, and Finance Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma once again urged all the regional and national political parties to join hands and contest the upcoming Assam Assembly election as one party against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Answering media questions Dr. Sarma said, “These newly-formed regional political parties should come together for a fight against the BJP. They might be blamed by the people after the election of secretly acting as a B Team of the BJP for dividing the votes. So, it is for their good that these parties should join hands. People should not doubt that they had some secret understanding with me or the CM.”
On ‘Miya’ (Bengali speaking Muslims of Bangladesh origin) votes the minister stated that the BJP is not after those votes. The party will put up candidates in Miya-dominated seats so that those supporting the BJP have someone to vote for.
“BJP has been targeting 100+ seats in the upcoming elections but let me be clear here that we are not doing any kind of polarization to get votes. And we as a party know that Miyas are definitely not going to vote for us. They haven’t cast their votes in the panchayat or 2014 elections. And as per the experience, the Miyas won’t cast their votes in favour of us this time also. They have a different kind of agenda.”
Dr. Sarma also added, “We won’t allow a Miya Museum in Sankaradeva Kalakshetra or won’t allow anyone to write Miya poems. So in what context will they vote for us? So those particular seats belong to them. But we will still ask some of our members to contest elections so that other people who reside in that area and who don’t follow the Miya culture will be able to vote for us. We won’t fill candidates to win but only for the people who want to vote for us.”
