New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress of “openly” standing by “intruders” and carrying forward “its agenda of breaking India for votes”, after a video surfaced on social media purportedly showing one of its leaders singing Bangladesh’s national anthem at an official meeting of the Seva Dal in Assam.
In Assam, a senior official of the Sribhumi district administration said they have “received oral instructions from state Fisheries Minister Krishnendu Paul to enquire into the matter, and we are looking into the issue now”.
The Congress’ Assam unit sought to play down the issue, saying the ruling party is creating “unnecessary controversy” to divert people’s attention.
This came after an undated video surfaced on social media showing Congress functionary Bidhu Bhushan Das allegedly singing Bangladesh’s national anthem “Amar Sonar Bangla”, penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, at a Congress Seva Dal meeting in Sribhumi district of southern Assam’s Barak valley.
The BJP, on the other hand, grabbed the chance with both hands to slam the Congress ahead of next year’s election.
The ruling party’s national spokesperson, Shehzaad Poonawalla, said, “The Congress has been standing by Bangladeshi intruders for years. It helped these intruders settle down during its rule. And now, the Congress is officially supporting them from the party’s platform with its leader singing Bangladesh’s national anthem.”
“This is not a coincidence. This is a well thought-out experiment and industry for vote bank,” he told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, demanding a response from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Poonawalla charged that a “big leader” of the Congress sang the national anthem of Bangladesh, “which recently came up with a provocative gesture for the separation of India’s northeast region, especially Assam”.
“The Congress has officially come out to carry forward ‘Bharat ke tukde tukde (breaking India)’ agenda,” he alleged.
Reacting to the controversy, Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi hit back at the BJP, alleging that the ruling party was creating “unnecessary controversy” as it has no other issue to divert people’s attention.
Sribhumi district Congress president Tapas Purkayastha said, “Don’t indulge in politics with Rabindranath Tagore. Our pride, 85-year-old poet Vidhu Bhushan Das, sang only two lines of the song. Criticising this song means insulting Rabindranath Tagore.”
BJP spokesperson also took on other opposition INDIA bloc constituents and slammed the TMC, alleging that the Mamata Banerjee government was hatching a conspiracy to instigate riots in West Bengal after the Election Commission announced the launch of the second phase of the electoral roll revision in the state, along with 11 others.
He cited recent remarks of some of the TMC leaders in this connection, alleging that they have threatened violence and attack on the poll panel officials as well as BJP workers if the SIR is conducted in West Bengal.
“Mamata Banerjee herself has said that there will be riots in Bengal if SIR is carried out in the state”, the BJP spokesperson claimed.
“Will the Congress and the INDI Alliance say something on the Bengal government’s conspiracy to instigate riots, attack on Election Commission officials on implementation of the SIR in the state,” he added.
The BJP spokesperson also accused the opposition parties of adopting “double standards” on the implementation of the SIR.
“The same opposition — Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party — are demanding implementation of SIR in Maharashtra before local body polls,” he said.
“This SIR (in Maharashtra) is good, and those to be conducted in 12 states are bad? How does one SIR become secular and the other SIR becomes communal?” Poonawalla asked the opposition.
The BJP spokesperson Poonawalla alleged that the constituents of the INDIA bloc, be it the TMC, Congress, or the DMK, are engaged in a “competitive appeasement politics”. They keep chanting “Constitution, Constitution”, but what they “truly” seek is the “vote bank and the business of Sharia”, he charged.
Poonawalla alleged that the agenda of the TMC government in West Bengal is “not to protect maa (women), maati (soil), and manush (people), but to shield jihadis, rioters, and rapists”.
The TMC claims to stand with the Constitution, but its actions clearly show it wants to impose “jungle aaj and Sharia raj”, the BJP spokesperson charged.
“Mamata Banerjee should clarify that when the SIR process was conducted before 2014, was it a backdoor NRC? Was that SIR process then an NRC, or was it necessary?” he posed.
