Assam Congress leader Rejaul Karim Sarkar pledges in front of Gaurav Gogoi to make Shivsagar Muslim dominated ‘like Dhubri’, CM Sarma reacts

Rejaul Karim Sarkar has made threats to make Sivasagar into Dhubri.
Rejaul Karim Sarkar (in blue) with Gaurav Gogoi. (Source: IANS)

On 11th January (Sunday), Rejaul Karim Sarkar joined the Congress in the presence of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Gaurav Gogoi. Rejaul is the former president of the All Assam Minorities Students Union. However, the induction has triggered a massive controversy as he threatened to turn the upper regions of the state inhabited by indigenous people into Dhubri.

“We will make Sivasagar like Dhubri, will turn Dhubri into Sivasagar, will make Barak (south Assam districts) like Sivasagar and will turn Tinsukia into Dhubri. We are going ahead to make such an Assam under Gaurav Gogoi,” Rejaul declared in the presence of Gogoi, who defended the statement in the name of Bor Asom, which is the concept of greater Assam.

However, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma criticised Gogoi, the Jorhat MP, for failing to raise his voice against the new party member following his objectionable remark. He pointed out that Sivasagar is part of the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency, but Gogoi preferred to remain silent instead of protesting.

Sarma warned that it was a threat by Congress to relocate Bangladeshis to Sivasagar and Tinsukia and transform these areas into “Miya land.” He added that migrant Muslims of Bangladeshi descent, known as “Miyas,” would pillage Assam if the Congress were to retake power.

“It was condemnable that in a Congress joining programme today, they said they will turn Sivasagar and Tinsukia into Dhubri. Koch Rajbongshis and other tribes used to live in Dhubri, but the influx of Bangladeshi people turned Dhubri into a district where 80 or 85% people are of Bangladeshi origin today. Hindus have become a minority there,” the chief minister stated. He firmly announced, “If someone had made such a statement in front of me, I would have shoved them out.”

Akhil Gogoi, the chief of the Raijor Dal and an MLA from Sivasagar, also reacted fiercely to Rejaul’s comment and conveyed that any intentional attempt to incite social or political strife would be opposed decisively.

Rejaul became a member of the Congress in the presence of Gaurav Gogoi and other prominent party figures at an event organised at the Manabendra Sharma Complex in Guwahati.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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