Considered a key man behind Bharatiya Janata Party's grand show in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress strongman and Tarun Gogoi-baiter, on Thursday said people of the state have voted for development and protection of their identity.
Sarma, a protege-turned-rival of outgoing Chief Minister Gogoi, said the veteran Congressman was ruling "by default", but people have decisively voted in favour of Narendra Modi in the hope that he will resolve the issues of their identity and usher in development in Assam.
"People of Assam are going through a crisis of identity and crisis of development. Tarun Gogoi was ruling by default. People have decisively voted in favour of Narendra Modi as he has promised to resolve their identity issue and bring in development. So all hope is on Modi and Amit Shah," Sarma, who joined the BJP in August last year and was made the party's convenor for assembly polls, said.
"Any party in Assam that talks about the identity of people of the state would get their support. The Congress failed to do that, but people of Assam are inspired by Narendra Modi for his politics of development and assurance that he will resolve the issue of identity," Sarma said.
Describing illegal immigration from Bangladesh a major problem, he said the BJP in its vision document has promised to stop it by sealing the borders and strengthening national registry of citizenship to ensure that they do not get voting right.
"We have promised that Indo-Bangladesh border will be closed so that there is no more influx. According to mandate given to the BJP, we want to detect and identify illegal immigrants who came to India post 1971 and there is a national registry of citizens in Assam which we want to implement and make it fool-proof, so that names of illegal immigrants can be deleted from the voters list," he said.
He also said Assam Accord had promised safeguarding political and cultural identity of people of the state and "we are looking forward to it happening immediately in our government".
He said switching over to the BJP ahead of elections was "an individual accomplishment for me. It is a sweet victory for me. I am grateful to the people of Assam."
Sarma credited party chief Amit Shah for the victory and said it was he who gave encouragement for cobbling together a grand alliance that paved the way for BJP's resounding win.
He also attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who he alleged, was "not sincere" and being "blue-blooded encouraged blue blood" and nepotism in the party.
"Being blue-blooded himself, Rahul allowed sons and daughters (of Congress leaders) to thrive. I warned him not to create this dynastic umbrella, but he is only surrounded by dynasts and blue-blooded politicians," he said.
Replying to a question on what would be his role in the state after BJP's victory, Sarma said "Sonowal is projected as the chief minister and he will be the CM. Regarding my role, let the party president decide. I am at their disposal."
