Assam Cong. hits out Sarma for his remark on Rahul

Assam Congress on Saturday launched a frontal attack on Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his ‘father-son’ barb at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and accused him of tarnishing the image of the state.

The chief minister was in Uttarakhand on Friday to hold election campaigns for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During the rally, he targeted Rahul Gandhi for asking for proof of the surgical strike that the Indian army carried out against Pakistan. “Have we ever asked you if you are really Rajiv Gandhi’s son or not?” he said.

Taking offence to Mr Sarma’s remark Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah said, “Assamese are known as cultured and well-mannered people all over the world and the state is popular across the globe as a centre of spirituality. Today all that was reduced to dust with chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s deplorable remarks questioning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's father's identity at an election rally in Uttarakhand. This has lowered the image of Assam's residents in the eyes of the world.” Mr Borah went on accusing that since student days, Mr Sarma was involved in corruption and crime and hasn’t changed his manners and character even after securing the chief minister’s post.

“Mr Sarma had left Congress and joined BJP to escape CBI’s cases and now he is targeting Mr Gandhi with uncivilized and low-mannered remarks in order to defend himself from being targeted by the RSS and BJP high command for the illegal land deals made by his family,” he said. Mr Borah also equated Mr Sarma's character to coal and said that this rock doesn’t change colour even after dipping into milk. He said that Mr Sarma’s remkarks suggest that the chief minister’s power has gone into his head.

“Mr Sarma has proved that it won’t be possible to expect high ideals and better public utterances from such a chief minister,” Mr Borah added

Mr Sarma, a former Congress leader who had switched over to BJP in 2015, had also hit out at Mr Gandhi over his “union of states” remark saying the Congress is indulging into the politics of polarisation. “Sometimes they say India is not a nation, but a union of states. Hearing all this makes one feel if Jinnah’s soul has entered into the Congress. They say it's right to open madrasas, opening Muslim universities is right. They also say it's right to wear hijab.” said the chief minister.