Assam Assembly passes UCC Bill, CM Sarma calls it ‘most secular, uniform and progressive law’
With the passage of the proposed legislation, Assam has now emerged as the third state, after Uttarakhand and Gujarat, to pass a Uniform Civil Code Bill.
In a calculated political reframing of the upcoming Assembly elections in Assam, Congress state unit chief Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday asserted that the contest in the state is between the old Congressmen, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, and the Congressmen who follow the ideals of the late Tarun Gogoi.
Speaking to mediapersons in poll-bound Assam’s Golaghat, Gogoi sought to blur the ideological lines between the BJP and the Congress, saying, “the BJP no longer exists in the state.”
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“The election will be contested between the old Congressmen led by Himanta Biswa Sarma and us, who are following the ideals of the late Tarun Gogoi,” he added.
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The Congress leader further asserted that the saffron party in Assam is now run by those who left the Congress.
“The BJP in Assam is now run solely by those who left the Congress and are under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma,” he said, adding, “the old, staunch BJP members are no longer there.”
His remarks come amid growing chatter that the Assam unit of the BJP is dominated by a significant number of former Congress leaders, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma himself being a prominent Congress turncoat.
The recent high-profile defections have also added to the narrative the Congress party is trying to build in the run-up to the forthcoming Assembly polls.
Former state Congress president Bhupen Borah and sitting Congress MP from Nagaon, Pradyut Bordoloi, who had recently taken the saffron plunge, were awarded poll tickets over old guards, further reinforcing Gogoi’s charge.
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