On claims by Congress that the BJP distributed beef to influence voters during the recent by-polls, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has issued a rather daring challenge. Sarma went on record that he was ready to ban beef in Assam in its entirety if Congress wanted it in writing.
The matter was taken to the next level after Congress MP Rakibul Hussain claimed that the BJP had arranged a beef party in the Muslim-dominated Samaguri constituency minority vote bank attraction. Hussain said the BJP deliberated on getting voters during the by-polls exercise. The Congress also alleged that the BJP handed over beef to spew its influence in the electoral process in the area.
For his part, CM Sarma dismissed the critics by counter-asking the Congress party why it did not ban beef during its governance. Far more specifically, Rakibul Hussain himself said it is wrong to eat beef. Sarma responded fiercely that if he believed this, he should write to me and would not waste time responding to him by banning beef in the state.
The Chief Minister also dismissed Congress’s narrative, asking whether they wanted to mean that Beef could deliver their constituency, Samaguri, of which they are well aware. “Can this imply that Congress successfully won Samaguri by feeding the voters beef in the past?” Sarma questioned.
Sarma also supported this by saying if Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah wanted a ban on beef personally, then he would make sure that ban was brought to Assam immediately. He thanked the opposition for the comments, which, as he said, helped create a much-needed discussion on the issue.
The Chief Minister has stirred political controversy, and both the parties involved have leveled allegations against each other. The BJP sees this as an opportunity to trap the Congress party, and on the other hand, the opposition parties term it as BJP’s populism, which is a hypocrisy-exposed exercise.
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