Assam: Congress candidate alleges BJP's religious polarisation in Nagaon

Congress candidate for Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, Pradyut Bordoloi alleged that the ruling BJP is trying religious polarisation in Nagaon, which has become a Muslim majority constituency after delimitation by the Election Commission of India last year.

Out of a total electors of around 18.2 lakh, there are over 10.5 lakh Muslim voters in Nagaon constituency after the delimitation.

Like every medicine has an expiry date, such a kind of communal polarisation is going to expire and public discourse will take a different turn, he said, expressing optimism about public wisdom.

"After 1826 when the Britishers came to Assam, they faced a lot of resistance from different ethnic groups. At that time Britishers took a policy and introduced poppy or opium cultivation here. And the protest could be subdued after introducing opium or drugs for an initial period.

"For us in Assam and the country, BJP has propagated and circulated a different kind of opium, and that opium is religious polarisation. In the bargain, when you make people irrational and disoriented, the issues that touch their day-to-day life have been ignored. This is the main issue," Bordoloi told PTI in an interview.

Asked if making Nagaon a Muslim majority seat would help him, Bordoloi said Congress could retrieve the constituency in 2019 after 35 years despite Hindus being the dominant community.

"Majority Hindu people voted for me and I could win. The point is, I am acceptable to all sections and that is my good fortune. I enjoy the confidence of all communities of my constituency. I don't play sectarian politics, my political wicket is not Muslims or Hindus. I don't have to pit them against each other," he claimed.

When asked about the issues that he is raising while seeking votes, Bordoloi said unemployment is a big issue with every household in Nagaon constituency having a jobless youth but the government is not doing enough to address the problem.

Asked about his once confidante and now opponent Suresh Bora of BJP, Bordoloi termed him as an "inconsequential" person, who lost thrice in assembly polls after contesting as a Congress candidate from Barhampur in Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.

"Unlike him, I don't have skeletons in my cupboards. If he knew me, it was very transparent Pradyut Bordoloi. But a lot of skeletons are tumbling out of his cupboard because of his past. He was a dreaded militant and certain things that he did by holding an AK-47 or AK-56, people are talking about those now," he added.

Bora was with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and later surrendered. He was a member of Congress but joined the BJP around three months back.

When asked about his poll prospects, Bordoloi said: "I am very confident. It is very palpable. Wherever you go in the constituency, you can see it. I can very confidently say seeing the mood of the people that I am going to win with a very very convincing margin."

Bordoloi alleged that the Election Commission took no action or an enquiry has been conducted on his over a dozen complaints filed with the poll body.

"No response from them (ECI). I want to say it with responsibility, we are very afraid that ECI is very partial. Probably they are going to behave in a more partial manner," he said when asked about the status of his complaints with the poll body.

Bordoloi said he has been very purposefully making all the 15 complaints, which were lodged since the day of filing nomination, public through his social media accounts because the ECI is not taking any action.

"Do you know that not a single enquiry has been made so far? What is the purpose? Are they all puppets? Are all new Election Commissioners puppets that they devoid of their rationality? We want action from them.

"If I am giving false information, let there be an enquiry. They are not even conducting an enquiry. What kind of impartiality is this? This is what I want to ask them," he added.

When contacted Chief Electoral Officer of Assam Anurag Goel declined to give any comment on Bordoloi's allegations.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bordoloi had won by a margin of 16,752 votes defeating BJP's Rupak Sharma.

Voting in Nagaon will take place in the second phase on April 26.