BJP dares Gaurav Gogoi to condemn Priyank Kharge’s ‘anti-Assam’ remarks

The Assam BJP on October 27 launched a sharp attack on Congress over Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge’s controversial remark that “Assam lacks talented and capable people to establish industries,” calling it an insult to the people of the state.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP State Headquarters, Vajpayee Bhawan in Basistha, party spokesperson Jayanta Kumar Goswami said the statement had deeply hurt Assamese sentiments and undermined the state’s pride. He issued an open challenge to Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi, urging him to “show courage” by passing a resolution condemning Kharge’s remark.

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“The Congress Party has a long history of humiliating Assam and the Northeast,” Goswami said, recalling what he termed the party’s repeated failures in the region. He cited Jawaharlal Nehru’s handling of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, which he said “virtually abandoned” Assam, and Indira Gandhi’s decision during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, which allegedly triggered the influx of 40 lakh illegal migrants into the state.

He further accused Rajiv Gandhi of “legalising” illegal Bangladeshi settlers through the Assam Accord by fixing 1971 as the cut-off year for citizenship instead of 1951. Goswami also claimed that Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, had “shown a map of India excluding Assam and the Northeast,” terming it yet another affront to the region.

Blaming decades of Congress rule for Assam’s economic backwardness and social imbalance, Goswami said the BJP would continue to expose the party’s “disrespectful attitude” toward the people of the Northeast.