Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during electioneering in Uttarakhand on Friday triggered a storm back home on Saturday with the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress staging a series of protests against him for “demeaning women” and “lowering the image” of the state with his “insensitive and unparliamentary” remark.
Campaigning for the ruling BJP at Kichha in Uttarakhand, which goes to the polls on February 14, Sarma targeted both the Congress and Rahul in his 21-minute speech.
Criticising Rahul for seeking proof for the surgical strikes India carried out in Pakistan in 2016 under the leadership of the late General Bipin Rawat in 2016, Sarma said: “Have we (BJP) ever asked you (Rahul) for proof about who your father was? What right do you have to ask for proof from our army? If our army has said they have exploded a bomb in Pakistan, they have exploded it? What is the dispute? What is there to say?”
He further asked: “Don’t you have faith in Bipin Rawat ji? Have you no faith in our sons from Uttarakhand who is in the army? If they have said they have carried out a surgical strike, they have carried out an air strike, they have done it. Why do you need proof? Have I ever asked for proof that you are the son of Rajiv Gandhi? Have I ever asked for proof? Don’t insult the army like this....”
The Congress reacted promptly with the Assam PCC chief Bhupen Kumar Borah saying the remark “exposed” Sarma’s mentality and “lowered” the prestige of the Assam chief minister’s post.
On Saturday, Youth Congress members staged dharnas in all the district headquarters, burnt the effigy of the chief minister, initiated a Twitter campaign #HemantaShamedWomen in the evening, and blackened hoardings displaying the chief minister’s image in Sivasagar town. While AYC president Angkita Dutta coordinated the state-wide protest from Sivasagar, working president Ratul Patowary led the protest in Guwahati.
“We protested against the statement made by the chief minister during a poll rally in Uttarakhand yesterday (Friday). He demeaned women. He has brought shame to Assam. Being the chief minister he should not have used such filthy language. Is this what the Sangh parivar, RSS taught him over the years... to question a woman, a mother, a son?” Dutta, daughter of former PCC president Anjan Dutta, told The Telegraph.
The Twitter trend #HemantaShamedWomen initiated by the Youth Congress said: “Himanta has again spit venom ... Dear friends, it is a disgrace for every woman to have people like Himanta to rule our state of Assam. We highly condemn and appeal for FIR to be lodged.”
Congress members said questioning the parentage of Rahul, the son of former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991, was “bad” politics and only reflected the “desperation” of the ruling BJP to win at all costs.
Sarma, who leads the BJP-led coalition government in Assam, never misses an opportunity to attack the Congress leader after he left the party in 2015 to join the BJP.
Speaking to The Telegraph Youth Congress working president Ratul Patowary said: “The chief minister’s remark was insensitive and unparliamentary. He should apologise for disrespecting Bharat Ratna late Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He shamed Assam. The remark was against Indian culture....”
Around 100 Youth Congress activists participated in the Guwahati protest.
The ruling BJP backed Sarma.
BJP state unit spokesperson Rupam Goswami told The Telegraph that the chief minister only articulated the feeling of countrymen in his speech.
“How the country felt when Rahul Gandhi asked for proof about the surgical strike... Now they (Congress) should know how it feels. They should not get agitated,” Goswami said.
