GUWAHATI
A Prime Minister from the Congress party would have stopped the ethnic conflict in Manipur soon after it started last May, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.
Addressing a rally as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in central Assam’s Nagaon district, he added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could also have brought the situation in Manipur under control quickly if the Bharatiya Janata Party had wished to do so.
“Our Prime Minister is yet to go to Manipur, which has been burning for several months now. A Congress Prime Minister would have gone there in three days and the flame there would have been doused on the fourth day,” Mr. Gandhi said.
“If the Prime Minister orders, the Army can stop the violence. He does not go there [Manipur] and order the Army to stop the ‘tamasha’ because the BJP does not want the fire doused,” he added.
‘Come after 3 p.m.’
The yatra began in Manipur on January 14 and is now passing through central Assam, but has been forced to change its plans for January 22. Though Mr. Gandhi and his entourage were slated to pay their obeisance at Assam’s most revered monastery, the Batadrava Than, on January 22 morning, they have been asked to reschedule as there will be a “rush of devotees” to mark the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The Batadrava Than Parichalana Samiti (management committee) has written to local Congress MLA Sibamoni Bora, urging her to tell Mr. Gandhi to visit the monastery after 3 p.m. instead of the originally scheduled 8 a.m. Batadrava is the birthplace of the 15th century saint-reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva, who propounded a form of Vaishnavism that treats all communities as one.
“The Assam government knew about our itinerary before the Yatra started. We understand why the Chief Minister [Himanta Biswa Sarma] has tried to stop Rahulji from going to the Gauhati Press Club on an invitation, but a place of worship and spiritualism should have been above politics,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said. “We thought it would have been anyay (unjust) not to pay obeisance to Srimanta Sankaradeva at his place of birth for 10 to 15 minutes when we are in the Nagaon district,” he added.
‘Can’t visit press club’
Mr. Ramesh said he has the invitation letter from the Gauhati Press Club but would rather not make it public lest the journalists who invited Mr. Gandhi for an interaction were “unnecessarily” targeted by the BJP-led Assam government.
The Chief Minister told journalists that Mr. Gandhi was free to attend any press club programme but the local administration would lodge a complaint against him for causing inconvenience to the people in a busy part of Guwahati. “We could have considered had it been a Sunday,” he said.
A key functionary of the press club said that the invitation to Mr. Gandhi was in keeping with a policy of inviting leaders, academics, celebrities, sportspersons, and achievers to the Gauhati Press Club for periodic interactions. “The date was not fixed and Congress did not commit but got back by saying they did not get permission to take the route to the press club,” he said.
Attack on Congress State chief
A group of youth assaulted Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah when the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra reached Jumugurihat in the Sonitpur district on Sunday. A photo of him with a bleeding nose went viral on social media. The Congress has lodged an FIR with the police, naming seven people, who were among about 60 who surrounded a bus used for the yatra.
“When the State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah got down from the bus to try and understand the situation, he was beaten up by the group. A youth, Hridoy Das, who tried to save Borah, was also thrashed and injured. He is undergoing treatment,” said the FIR, lodged by the Congress’ Sonitpur district president Dadul Borkakoti.
“Every attack from the fascists is a badge of honour for us. Proud of our APCC President Sh. @BhupenKBorahji and many other brave karyakartas who stood up and valiantly fought against BJP goons who have been relentlessly trying to intimidate and silence us from exposing Himanta’s corruption,” Congress leader K.C. Venugopal said.
‘Country for one person’
Addressing the Nagaon rally, Mr. Gandhi said that he had no option of reaching out to people other than embarking upon a yatra. “The BJP is controlling most of the media houses, which show only what the party or its leaders want,” he said.
“It seems this country is being run for one person only,” he said.
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The Congress leader took a jab at Dr. Sarma too, saying that the people know him as the “most corrupt” Chief Minister in the country.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sarma directed the Assam police to probe an alleged attack on Mr. Ramesh’s vehicle in central Assam on Sunday.
“My vehicle was attacked a few minutes ago at Jumugurihat, Sunitpur by an unruly BJP crowd who also tore off the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra stickers from the windshield. They threw water and shouted anti-BJNY slogans. But we kept our composure, waved to the hooligans and sped away. This is undoubtedly the Assam CM @himantabiswa’s doing. We are not intimidated and will soldier on,” Mr. Ramesh had posted on X.
