Kamal Ghorui
Himanta leads 50-memberAssam brigade into Bengal
GUWAHATI: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma onThursday stormed into WestBengal’s campaign arenawith a 50-member delegationof MPs, ministers, MLAs andstate office bearers, carryingAssam’s playbook into theneighbouring state againstCM Mamata Banerjee andTrinamool Congress.Pitching Assam’s decadelong governance record as amodel at three campaign rallies in Cooch Behar, Kalchiniand Phansidewa, Sarma said, “In Assam and Tripura,BJP govts do not allow infiltration from Bangladesh, butMamata Banerjee welcomesillegal immigrants in her state.”He said Assam’s Hindupopulation has come down to60% from 80%, and likewisethe upcoming census will reveal that Bengal’s Hindu population has come down from70% to around 60%, with increase in the percentage ofBangladeshi Muslims in thestate.The Assam CM said Bangladeshi Muslims were evicted from 1.5 lakh acres of landin his state and warned, “Ifthe Mamata Banerjee-ledTMC remains in power, the situation in West Bengal will beworse than that in Bangladesh,” Sarma said.At Kalchini, Sarma pointed to AJUP leader HumayunKabir’s mosque project. “LetBJP form the govt in Bengal,we will teach him a lesson. Wehave no problem in construction of a mosque, but why inthe name of Babar. No onewould dare to make any mosque in the name of Babar inAssam,” Sarma said.He also accused TMC ofcolluding with tea garden owners to block wage hikes.“When she did not announceany increase in the daily wages, we unilaterally hiked thedaily wages of tea gardenworkers in Assam from Rs240 to Rs 280 along with ration,” Sarma said.“How can tea garden workers eat fish or meat with adaily wage of only Rs 240. Mamata ji, raise their wages sothat they can also eat such food,” Sarma said.On the food debate, Sarmacountered TMC’s claim thatBJP would ban non-veg itemsin Bengal. “Mamata Didi issaying that if BJP comes topower in Bengal, they willban non-veg food. I want tosay that Mamata didi, pleasecome to Assam, we have verygood non-veg food here. Assam has had a BJP govt for 10years, but people eat non-veg.Why spread this misconception?”“The only restriction inAssam is on beef. We are Sanatanis. We will neither eatbeef, nor let anyone eat it,” hesaid, sharpening BJP’s pitchin Bengal’s northern districts, ahead of the April 23and 29 polling phases.Sarma further said,“Cattle are smuggled fromBengal into Bangladesh, while humans come to India fromthe neighbouring country.”“Notably, several nationaland regional media outletshave reflected a clear publicinclination in favour of theNDA in Assam, while simultaneously indicating a risingmomentum and favourableprospects for the BJP in WestBengal, where a strong performance would mark theparty’s definitive consolidation in eastern India,” BJP’sAssam spokesperson PranjalKalita said.Sarma asserted that BJPwill win 200 seats in WestBengal. “Assam is a small state, we will score a century there; Bengal is a large state, wehave to hit a double century,”Sarma said, addressing another public meeting at Phansidewa in Darjeeling district.
