Himanta Biswa Sarma comparable to Muhammad Ali Jinnah: Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi

Guwahati: Continuing the trade of barbs ahead of the impending Assembly elections in Assam, Congress Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Boroloi compared the state's health, education, and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

Making the claim at a function in Middle Assam's Morigaon district, the senior Congress leader said that even Jinnah, while advocating for the right of Muslims to have their own country during the colonial period, did not stoop as low as Sarma in the name of communal politics. No politician has made such "derogatory remarks" against particular communities, Bordoloi went on to add.

Bordoloi has launched his salvo in the midst of rising tensions between the Congress and BJP, especially in regards to the former's declaration of a "grand alliance" that consists of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a party that allegedly champions the cause of Bangladesh-origin Muslims.

Sarma has time and again warned that such an alliance could potentially spell doom for the cultural sanctity of Assam. The Minister has also issued a warning that a Congress-AIUDF alliance could nominate perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal as the Chief Ministerial candidate of Assam.

Launching attacks against both the Grand Old Party and its new alliance partner, Sarma has said that the Hindu-nationalist BJP is committed to stopping this coalition coming to power at any cost.

The Minister said that the Congress' alliance with the AIUDF shall push many Congress leaders towards the saffron party. "The Congress' Bhawan shall now become Ajmal Bhawan. I myself find it sad as I was once affiliated with the Congres", he recently stated during an Independence Day function. Taking potshots at mentor-turned-rival Tarun Gooi, Biswa Sarma claimed that the veteran's current "pro-Ajmal" status is baffling as he rode to Power by opposing Ajmal and his policies.

Although the minister has toned down the rhetoric after the former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi got infected with the coronavirus, tensions are sure to resurface as Assam heads closer to the polls that are to be held in the first quarter of 2021.

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