Guwahati: Hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that he was “beaten up” during his visit to Assam by then chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, the Congress on Saturday hit back at Shah.
Assam Congress spokesperson Bobbeeta Sharma said she doubts that the former CM had “thrashed” Shah but he “perhaps…saved Assamese society from dangers of polarization”.
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“Doubt ‘thrash’ but perhaps by discouraging late CM Hiteswar Saikia saved Assamese soceity from dangers of polarization -now evident. (sic),” Sharma said in a tweet.
Congress national spokesperson Jairam Ramesh added to the debate saying Saikia was the one who “first gave respectability” to Himanta Biswa Sarma, the current Assam CM who switched to BJP from Congress.
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“…and it was hiteshwar saikia who first gave respectability to himanta biswa sarma who is now amit shah’s favourite, (sic)” Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
Earlier today, Shah recalled his visit to Assam as a leader of the ABVP during his initial years in politics, claiming that he was “beaten up a lot by Hiteswar Saikia”, in an apparent reference to the alleged police crackdown on protests by the ABVP during the Congress rule.
“I had come here for the program of the (Akhil Bharatiya) Vidyarthi Parishad, then we were beaten up a lot by Hiteswar Saikia (then Assam CM)… We used to shout slogans like ‘Assam ki galiyan sooni hain, Indira Gandhi khooni hai’. At that time it was not imagined that BJP would form the government in Assam twice on its own,” Shah said.