Assam’s Minister of Health Himanta Biswa SarmaThe BJP’s key strategist in the Northeast, he returned to his residence at 2am after campaigning, but was ready by 7am. Dozens of party workers gathered at Sarma’s bungalow in Guwahati as he spoke with Akhilesh singh. Excerpts from the interview:
Do you think Congress-AIUDF combines corner seats as some of the new parties erode their Assamese vote base?
TO: AIUDF and Congress had contested the Lok Sabha elections on a 1: 1 basis. The people of Assam know that AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal is not Assamese. He is Indian, but not Assamese. You have to make a distinction.
So, in Assam, from 1935, the late Gopinath Bordoloi started fighting with Sarshadullah Khan. So the Muslim League’s fight against Congress continued until 1982 under the aegis of Congress. This is a real battle in Assam, which we call a conflict of civilizations. When Indira Gandhi arrived, she changed direction. So the battle was fought by AASU and AGP from 1979 onwards.
It is now BJP. So this civilizational struggle, cultural conflict between ‘miyan’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims) and Assamese is not in the least created by BJP. This is independent of what is happening, left and right in India.
But where will this conflict end?
TO: They (miyan) have to change their thinking. Assamese people give birth to 2-3 people, give birth to 12-14. As a result, we are losing our space. They have to change themselves. They go to madrasas. We go to normal schools. We cannot change, we cannot go to madrasas. They have to change.
Now, Assamese is a language, you have to study it. You cannot create your own language. Ajmal is just a symbol. Sarshadullah was in 1935. Ghulam Usmani in 1979 and Ajmal today.
The BJP took office in 2016 and Assamese Hindus overwhelmingly voted for him. What if Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dol undermine that vote?
TO: The two are insignificant. They will never touch our traditional vote. In 2016, when Sarbananda Sonowal mentioned regionalists in the fold, people started to think that BJP is AJP and vice versa. BJP is a new version of AJP, this is what people thought. But the LS elections and the panchayat polls showed that these are two separate ideologies and ideas.
He has been a crowd shooter as can be seen from his rallies. Some people see you as the most popular leader, a possible CM this time.
TO: It does not matter. First of all, even if I am ambitious and Amit bhai (Amit Shah) says no, you will not convert … so what can I do? I’ve been in politics for 20 years. I have learned that where there is nothing to gain, there is no use wasting energy. Whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit bhai say, it happens.
What they say, I will certainly follow. If I could win something by pushing for that ambition, I would (laughs). They have my complete history.
So for Assam, if they feel Himanta is the right man, they will give it to me. If they feel that Sonowal is the right man, they will give it to him.
He also said this time that he was not interested in fighting the elections.
TO: I had said it at the beginning so there is no confusion. But the high command said, you must fight. The CM and I share a great relationship. Regardless of the arrangements that are made, there will be no fight between him and me. Whatever perception outsiders have, the CM and I have a phone call every day at 7am and we start our work only after that. We are on very friendly terms.
Assam was one of the states hardest hit by the anti-CAA / NRC protests. However, it is not seen as a major issue in polls. BJP is also silent on CAA during the campaign despite highlighting it in West Bengal.
TO: People don’t want to hear about it. Look, this is human psychology. When Covid-19 hadn’t started, then it was CAA-NRC to the end. But when we were locked up and whatever publicity CAA had gotten, people felt new people coming from Bangladesh.
People thought that this Law does not intend to regularize those of our peoples, but those who come from outside. So, we started explaining to people, the security protocols for Covid-19, as well as the nuances of CAA. This is why most people don’t want to talk about CAA-NRC.
Do you think Congress-AIUDF combines corner seats as some of the new parties erode their Assamese vote base?
TO: AIUDF and Congress had contested the Lok Sabha elections on a 1: 1 basis. The people of Assam know that AIUDF leader Badruddin Ajmal is not Assamese. He is Indian, but not Assamese. You have to make a distinction.
So, in Assam, from 1935, the late Gopinath Bordoloi started fighting with Sarshadullah Khan. So the Muslim League’s fight against Congress continued until 1982 under the aegis of Congress. This is a real battle in Assam, which we call a conflict of civilizations. When Indira Gandhi arrived, she changed direction. So the battle was fought by AASU and AGP from 1979 onwards.
It is now BJP. So this civilizational struggle, cultural conflict between ‘miyan’ (Bengali-speaking Muslims) and Assamese is not in the least created by BJP. This is independent of what is happening, left and right in India.
But where will this conflict end?
TO: They (miyan) have to change their thinking. Assamese people give birth to 2-3 people, give birth to 12-14. As a result, we are losing our space. They have to change themselves. They go to madrasas. We go to normal schools. We cannot change, we cannot go to madrasas. They have to change.
Now, Assamese is a language, you have to study it. You cannot create your own language. Ajmal is just a symbol. Sarshadullah was in 1935. Ghulam Usmani in 1979 and Ajmal today.
The BJP took office in 2016 and Assamese Hindus overwhelmingly voted for him. What if Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dol undermine that vote?
TO: The two are insignificant. They will never touch our traditional vote. In 2016, when Sarbananda Sonowal mentioned regionalists in the fold, people started to think that BJP is AJP and vice versa. BJP is a new version of AJP, this is what people thought. But the LS elections and the panchayat polls showed that these are two separate ideologies and ideas.
He has been a crowd shooter as can be seen from his rallies. Some people see you as the most popular leader, a possible CM this time.
TO: It does not matter. First of all, even if I am ambitious and Amit bhai (Amit Shah) says no, you will not convert … so what can I do? I’ve been in politics for 20 years. I have learned that where there is nothing to gain, there is no use wasting energy. Whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit bhai say, it happens.
What they say, I will certainly follow. If I could win something by pushing for that ambition, I would (laughs). They have my complete history.
So for Assam, if they feel Himanta is the right man, they will give it to me. If they feel that Sonowal is the right man, they will give it to him.
He also said this time that he was not interested in fighting the elections.
TO: I had said it at the beginning so there is no confusion. But the high command said, you must fight. The CM and I share a great relationship. Regardless of the arrangements that are made, there will be no fight between him and me. Whatever perception outsiders have, the CM and I have a phone call every day at 7am and we start our work only after that. We are on very friendly terms.
Assam was one of the states hardest hit by the anti-CAA / NRC protests. However, it is not seen as a major issue in polls. BJP is also silent on CAA during the campaign despite highlighting it in West Bengal.
TO: People don’t want to hear about it. Look, this is human psychology. When Covid-19 hadn’t started, then it was CAA-NRC to the end. But when we were locked up and whatever publicity CAA had gotten, people felt new people coming from Bangladesh.
People thought that this Law does not intend to regularize those of our peoples, but those who come from outside. So, we started explaining to people, the security protocols for Covid-19, as well as the nuances of CAA. This is why most people don’t want to talk about CAA-NRC.
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