Launching fresh attacks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Rahul wanted to destabilise Assam during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. He said the state police would “arrest Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after Lok Sabha elections”.
This fresh threat came a day after an FIR was registered against him and other Congress leaders following a confrontation between people taking part in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and the Assam police.
“We will arrest him after the Lok Sabha elections, if we do it now it will get very politicised. The SIT will do its investigation now… Yesterday there could have been a major incident going by how they had instigated the mob to break barricades. Before the Lok Sabha elections, we will not do much because we will be winning from Assam anyway and there’s no point in making too much political noise here. It’s better if the state remains peaceful,” said Sarma on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday.
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Listing the key temples that Rahul Gandhi has not visited on his journey — including the famous Kamakshya Temple — Mr Sarma said the Congress’s only goal is to start a row.
“The whole intention of the Yatra was to disturb Assam and jeopardise the peace in Assam. We defeated this attention seeker of his motive and now let him do whatever he wants to do beyond Dhuburi,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.
Reacting to Sarma’s statement, Congress leader Abdul Khaleque said, “If he has the courage to arrest, do it now. Why after the Lok Sabha elections. He is using the state police for his political gains…”
Another leader, Gaurav Gogoi said, “Let him file FIRs. We will continue with our yatra. Let him divide the nation based on religion and language, we will bring the nation together with our Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra… He is the most corrupt CM and it is only expected from him to say all this…”
Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra
Tuesday was the sixth day of the Assam leg of the ongoing yatra, which has been fraught with confrontations between the participants and the state apparatus. The yatra had been denied permission to enter Guwahati city, which it intended to do on Tuesday. When they were met with barricades and police on the road entering the city from the highway, participants broke through the obstruction and were pushed back by the security personnel. The yatra eventually continued along the highway and did not enter the city.
Later, the police lodged a suo motu FIR under sections of the IPC pertaining to criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of public way, assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty, causing harm to a public servant, and damage to property.
The FIR names “unknown” as the accused but names Rahul Gandhi, Jitender Singh, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Srinivas B V, Kanhaiyya Kumar, Gourav Gogoi, Debabrata Saikia, Bhupen Bora, Jakir Hussain Sikdar and Ramen Kumar Sarma as people who were heading the yatra as it entered Assam from Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, the Congress has claimed that Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra was attacked twice by BJP goons in Assam on Monday – shortly after the Chief Minister warned Gandhi to stay away from the state capital, Guwahati, citing the programmes associated with the Ram temple consecration ceremony.
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Early that morning, Rahul Gandhi was barred from entering a temple. He ended the day with a sit-down protest as the police did not allow his march to proceed.
On Wednesday, the Congress continued with its yatra through Lower Assam districts of Barpeta ad Dhubri. “File as many cases as you can against me. The BJP-RSS can’t intimidate me,” Rahul said during a public address in Barpeta on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh said the case has been transferred to the state CID and a Special Investigation Team would be constituted “for a thorough and in-depth investigation”.
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