Assam will fight ‘Love Jihad’ if BJP again comes to power: Himanta

PTI, Oct 12, 2020, 10:56 AM IST

Guwahati: Senior BJP leader and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the state government will start a “strict fight” against ‘Love Jihad’ if the saffron party again comes to power in the 2021 assembly elections.

Election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is due in March-April next year.

The BJP is losing five constituencies in every assembly election to the culture-civilisation of “Ajmal’s army,” the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor said, targetting AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal.

“We will have to start a new and strict fight against Love Jihad on Assam’s soil. If the BJP comes to power again, we will take a decision that if any boy hides his religious identity and comments anything negative on Assamese daughters and women, he will face ruthless and rigorous punishment,” he said during a BJP Mahila Morcha meeting in Dibrugarh.

Sarma claimed that girls are becoming victims of “Ajmal’s culture-civilisation” on Facebook as boys hiding their religion on social media befriend and marry them.

“We have taken an oath that if Ajmal’s army touches our women, the only punishment for them will be a death sentence, nothing less. We are working with such a resolve,” he said.

The BJP leader regularly targets Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal over his alleged minority politics and sympathy for illegal immigrants and attacks him over his religion.

“Love Jihad has created a mountain-like problem for Assamese daughters. Many girls have faced talaaq situations after getting duped by fake names of the boys. The BJP has resolved that whenever any culture- civilisation attacks Assamese girls, ruthless replies will be given,” he said.

Sarma said the BJP has lost political power in five constituencies due to the conspiracy of some people.

“If people do not unite then the society will not be saved. That is why the 2021 assembly election is for saving our culture-civilisation. If the 65 per cent people don’t fight together against Ajmal’s culture-civilisation, then our future Assam will not be saved. If we lose this fight of culture- civilisation, then we will not be able to live in this Assam after 15 years,” he said.

As per the 2011 census report, 34.22 per cent people in Assam are Muslims while 61.47 per cent are Hindus.

“We had spoken about the Saraighat battle in 2016. This battle doesn’t end in five years. We will have to fight till we finish off Ajmal’s army politically,” Sarma said.

The BJP had termed the 2016 election as the “last battle of Saraighat” to oust the Congress government, in reference to the 1671 battle in which the Ahom army led by Lachit Borphukan had defeated the Mughals.

“This is not a poll of schemes. This is not an election for someone to become the chief minister or an MLA. This is an election to save our society. If we want to live as an Assamese, then we have to make the BJP victorious in 2021 to save and keep alive our Sanatan culture-civilisation,” Sarma said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “wiped out” the shame of failing to save Lord Ram’s birthplace and proved to a saviour by laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple which has given confidence to crores of Indians, he said.

“The ruthless attacks by Babur-Aurangzeb on our culture was over under Narendra Modi’s rule through democracy and judiciary. He reminded that Babur-Aurangzeb won’t be able to rule in Delhi as well as Assam, Kashmir, Dhubri or Sadiya,” the minister said.

Sarma said Ajmal’s culture-civilisation is slowly destroying the social fabric and the Satra culture- civilisation has been destroyed in large parts of Lower and Middle Assam.

“Even the land belonging to Batadrava Satra of Srimanta Sankardeva was encroached by Ajmal’s culture- civilisation. Ajmal’s army didn’t even spare the Kaziranga’s rhino. And Ajmal’s army is progressing towards Upper Assam after starting its winning race from Dhubri and encroaching land in Kaziranga,” Sarma said.

The BJP government had taken charge in such a difficult time in 2016 and worked tirelessly for the past four-and-half years, he said.

“We rescued 14,000 bighas of land from Ajmal’s army and distributed them among the indigenous people. Batadrava was rescued from Ajmal’s army and a Rs 150-crore project is being implemented there. We saved the rhinos and regained Kaziranga’s pride after evicting people of Ajmal’s culture- civilisation. We have made progress in this fight of culture- civilisation. But five years is not enough. New problems are emerging as we are fighting the older issues. Assam doesn’t have time to laugh or relax. Every day, we are losing our land, culture-civilisation, history, geography,” Sarma said.

The education minister said the government has decided to shut down all the state-controlled madrassas “imparting orthodox religious teachings that go against the culture of Sankar-Ajan Peer,” the two saints who preached universal brotherhood in Assam.

“We want the new atmosphere of brotherhood to be built on the basis of Vaishnav and Sufi culture. Orthodox madrassa education is not essential for Assam,” he added.