GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday told mediapersons that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in the state on May 24 evening and he is likely to attend a meeting the next day.
Chief Minister Sarma said that the Union Home Minister has preponed his visit to the state on his request as he will be attending the Niti Aayog meeting on May 27.
“Replying queries of mediapersons on the Karnataka Assembly election results and the opposition claiming momentum for the 2024 general elections, Chief Minister Sarma said, “In a football match, if we score 10 goals, the opponent may score one goal but ultimately, we win 10-1. I am wondering, we won the Gujarat elections then nobody said anything, we lost in Karnataka an uproar has been created. It is the history of Karnataka, in the Assembly elections if we get 36 per cent vote then in the Parliamentary elections we will get 52 per cent votes, so people should celebrate after looking at the history, they should not celebrate midway, let the game be over. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ahead all over India and next time when we win, don’t blame the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).”
On being asked about the closure of 300 more madrassas, Sarma said, “We have already shut down 600 madrassas, there was a meeting between the BJP and the people who runs madrassas, and there is a consensus that 300 more madrassas will be closed down, so this is not what I am going to do, this is the result of the discussion between the Assam police and the Qaumi organizations, but it has been mutually decided that 300 more madrassas will be closed.”
Responding to a question on the ‘The Kerala Story’, the Chief Minister said, “In Assam the people are watching, so I don’t want to comment on anything positively or negatively on the Supreme Court judgement, the judgement is there, everybody can read.”
Asked on the possibility of a crackdown on polygamy, the Chief Minister said, “There would be no crackdown because polygamy is legal as of now so far as Muslim believers are concerned, so till we amend the law, polygamy is legal and we cannot go on a crackdown, but if any Hindu is found to be practicing polygamy, then we can go for a crackdown.
“The idea behind banning polygamy is that the dignity of a Muslim mother and daughter is saved and they should not be treated as a second grade citizen. If you read the Quran, then you will know that Prophet Muhammad said that in Islam Monogamy is a rule, polygamy is an exception. I am even ready to sit in a debate with an Islamic scholar on this topic.”
Answering on the child marriage issue, Sarma said, “We can see another crackdown on child marriage offenders by August or September.”