Morigaon: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday exuded confidence that girls, women and youths from the ‘Miya’ community will vote for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam. In recent years, however, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.
“I believe that daughters, women and youths of the Miya community will vote for the BJP this time. I am struggling for Miya women so that there should not be talaqs, child marriage, and women should get property rights,” Sarma told reporters here.
He claimed that unemployed youths from the community will also vote for the saffron party as many of them got government jobs without paying any bribe.
Commenting on Dhubri Lok Sabha seat, Sarma said, if possible, he wants candidates of both Congress and AIUDF “to win and go to Delhi for the future of Assam”.
“I am hoping for Rakibul Hussain’s win. If he goes to Delhi, then we don’t need so many battalions at Kaziranga. We will cut down on that,” he said, indicating at the Congress leader’s alleged involvement in rhino poaching.
Hussain was the forest minister during former CM Tarun Gogoi’s tenure and he was blamed for poaching of rhinoceros at Kaziranga National Park by the BJP-led alliance.
“If (Badruddin) Ajmal goes to Delhi, then many of our Muslim girls won’t need to marry at an early age. He himself is looking to marry one such girl. If it’s possible, I wish both of them should win for Assam’s betterment,” Sarma said.
AIUDF chief and Dhubri’s sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal has reportedly said that the BJP was trying to provoke the Muslims and if he wanted to marry again, nobody could stop him as his religion allowed him to do so.
“I have tried to reform their society. The Muslim community youths are giving me a lot of support. They have welcomed my words, no one has objected,” Sarma said.
He also claimed that leaders and workers of the opposition Congress will continue to join the ruling BJP during this election period.
“You have to believe me, no one will remain in the Congress. By 2026, no Hindu will be there in Congress, except one or two persons. And by 2032, most of the Muslim people will also leave Congress the way we are moving ahead,” Sarma asserted.
He said that BJP workers will go to Rajib Bhavan, Congress’ state headquarters here, and open one branch of the saffron party there.
“We can open a branch of BJP there like the city committee of BJP. Many Congress workers from booth levels are joining the BJP these days across the state,” Sarma said.
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