‘Cong should pick ‘lungi' as party symbol': Assam CM Himanta Sarma; Cong says BJP ought to make Godse's gun as its symbol
Ahead of the panchayat elections in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday took a dig at the Congress party over its distribution of 'dhotis' to people when it was in power and said the party can pick 'lungi', an attire worn mostly by Bengali-speaking Muslim men in the North East, as its party symbol instead of hand.
However, in a tongue-in-cheek response, state Congress president Bhupen Bora said that the BJP could pick Nathuram Godse's revolver as its party symbol, indicating Godse's revolver was used to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi in 1948.
Many groups of Bengali Muslims of Assam have been at the receiving end of allegations by the BJP of being 'illegal immigrants' from Bangladesh.
While addressing a poll rally at Dhemaji district on Monday, CM Sarma said: 'Ask Congress if they had free admission in colleges at their time. No. Was a fee needed for 10th standard admission forms? Yes. Was free rice given? Had the Dhemaji Medical and Engineering Colleges been built then? The answer is 'no'. There were only lungi and dhoti (during the Congress regime). That's why I ask the Congress people, they ought to change the (party) symbol from hand to 'lungi'. Congress doesn't understand anything else,' he said.
Soon after, Congress chief Bora said his party considers all dresses equal, whether it is a lungi, dhoti, pajama, or trousers.
'Our perspective at Congress is inclusive. If the BJP assumes they can dictate our choice of symbol, why don't they answer why their own symbol is a lotus? They ought to replace their symbol with Nathuram Godse's gun used to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi,' he said.
The panchayat elections in Assam are scheduled to be held in two phases — on May 2 and May 7 — and the results will be declared on May 11.
Assam has 21,920 seats in gram panchayats, 2,192 seats in Anchalik Parishads, and 397 in zilla parishads. The panchayat polls were scheduled to be held in 27 out of 34 districts of the state, as the other seven are governed by autonomous councils.
As per the State Election Commission, 1.80 crore people will exercise their franchise in the panchayat polls this year.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Friday that 348 candidates were elected unopposed in the three-tier panchayat polls and 325 of them were from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
As per reports, the NDA has already secured 37 zilla parishad (35 BJP and 2 AGP) and 288 Anchalik Panchayat (259 BJP and 29 AGP) seats unopposed, Sarma had said in an X post.
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