In what appears like a drama after the tacit understanding between Assam Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) ahead the Lok Sabha elections came out in open, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal is accusing Congress of betrayal after the party fielded its candidates against the AIUDF nominees.
Last month the AIUDF had decided to field its candidates only on three out of total fourteen Lok Sabha seats in Assam leaving the remaining eleven for Congress to contest. Ajmal had reportedly said that this was done to prevent the division of ‘secular’ votes as his party was ready to even compromise with its own prospects in the elections in order to keep the BJP out of power.
But now, after Congress fielded its candidates on Karimganj, Barpeta and Dhubri Lok Sabha seats which the AIUDF wanted all to itself, Ajmal is pretending to be unhappy with Congress explaining that there is a strong possibility of division of anti-BJP seats in the three constituencies. Ajmal put the blame on the State unit of Congress accusing it of harming the possibilities of an alliance between the two parties. He alleged that the Muslim leaders in Assam Congress were alarmed that their future would be finished if any understanding is reached between the AIUDF and the Congress.
He accused of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) of trying to finish the AIUDF. “The sole motto of the Congress is to finish the AIUDF. The Muslim leadership of the Congress did not want the AIUDF and the Congress to get united at all. If that happened, their political future would have been finished,” said Ajmal.
Ranking the BJP and the Congress as number one and number two enemies respectively, Ajmal said that his party does not have an intention to help Congress. “If the BJP is our number one enemy, then the Congress is number two. We have sacrificed our seats for secularism. We do not have any intention to help Congress. We took a decision for the Assamese language, culture, identity, and overall scenario. We wanted the Congress also to sacrifice like us by not putting up candidates in the three seats. In that way, we would have won the three, Congress seven and BJP would have got one or two seats. We were determined not to give a single seat to the BJP,” he said.
Attacking the Congress for its “rigidity’, Ajmal said that it was because of this attitude of Congress that the party is “zero” in Hindu areas and is largely a Muslim based party in the State with 15 out of 25 MLAs belonging to the minority community. Ajmal stated that he has been seeking an alliance with the Congress and had tried to speak with Rahul Gandhi for a month without success.
Ajmal accused the Congress of fooling and blackmailing Muslims for votes. He stated that after using Muslims votes for decades, Congress is now afraid of parties like AIUDF because their vote bank is taken.
Last year Ajmal had made headlines after he assaulted a journalist and threatened to smash his head for asking a question.