Rahul Gandhi leader of INC peacefully completed his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the 4 states of north-east India with adequate public support. As soon as he entered Assam, chaos broke out when he was denied permission to conduct public meetings in some places. He was also not allowed to enter the Institution of Satra, a unique feature of Vaishnavism in Assam. Senior Congress leaders alleged that Assam’s Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma was behind stopping of the Yatra in Assam. However, the police have cited that it was to control the law and order situation.
Inspite of all these, the BJP led Assam Government targeted Yatra and gave it to a communal angle to summarise the Yatra in Assam to a certain people and community. When Rahul Gandhi vehemently started called out the current Chief Minister of Assam on his alleged corruption, tagging him as the most corrupt CM in India, Himanta Biswa Sarma and his allies claimed that the Yatra was a “Miya Yatra”.
“Miya Muslims” have the majority in most of the districts of lower Assam while comparatively less in upper Assam. However the Yatra has gotten the support of numerous people due to its inclusiveness and for highlighting key issues from unemployment, price-hikes, inflation and corruption. But BJP’s propaganda tried to tie it with a specific religion.
The Yatra entered Barpeta district of Assam enroute to the last part of Assam that is Dhubri district. People from all caste, community joined the Yatra and gathered in huge numbers at the public meeting.
This did not stop the state BJP machinery to fuel the word “Miya” in order to colour the whole Yatra for a certain people and community.
In a recent post on the X (formerly Twitter) handle of Himanta Biswa Sarma, he published a video that showed the public gathering. He divided the screen as Hindu Majority Area vs Muslim Majority Area.
This sums up the “Bharat Bus Yatra”
एक ही बात की बहुत ख़ुशी है, मुसलमान बहुमत क्षेत्रों में माताएं और बहने इस यात्रा से नहीं जुड़ी। pic.twitter.com/eKuNPoNZwn
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 24, 2024
While another Minister from his Cabinet and happened to be the second man in the Himanta led BJP government in Assam, Pijush Hazarika also posted a similar video.
The video is divided into three parts in a video clip from three different places that shows the “Yatra” moving through different areas. Lakhimpur where BJP got 60.47% votes in the last Parliamentary election, another one is from Jagiroad, which is his own MLA constituency and got 53.54% votes in the 2021 assembly election. The last one from Barpeta where INC MP got less vote share then the previous places mentioned in the video clips of Pijush Hazarika uploaded on X.
This is why it is a Miya Yatra .
BJ Yatra crossed 3 constituencies
Hindu population in each of themLakhimpur: 75%
Jagiroad: 79%
Barpeta: 29%Look where people turned up@INCAssam pic.twitter.com/ZMjLbCfG9H
— Pijush Hazarika (@Pijush_hazarika) January 24, 2024
The Chief Minister has earlier in public meetings also spoken about the Yatra as a “Miya Yatra” that Rahul Gandhi is conducting throughout Assam.
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