Assam CM’s beef Remark Puts AJP Candidate in Spotlight
AJP chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi said Sarma targeting their candidate’s mother shows their desperation and inability to counter her popularity.
Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s outburst against a youngest candidate in the fray. On the ticket of opposition Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) Kunki Choudhury, that her mother eats beef and is anti-national and anti-sanatani, has brought her to limelight ahead April 9 assembly polls.
Ms Kunki Chowdhury, a University College London alumni from one of Assam’s prominent business families, has been contesting against BJP’s Vijay Gupta, 70 from the central Guwahati constituency of Guwahati.
Mr Sarma on Thursday alleged that the mother, Sujata Gurung Chowdhury, eats beef, supports anti-nationals and opposes Sanatani traditions. The chief minister displayed her social media posts to substantiate the charges.
Mr Sarma on his campaign trail told reporters, “The AJP has fielded a candidate whose mother’s Instagram posts show that she criticises Lord Krishna, openly eats beef, challenging Sanatani people, supports people like [jailed former Jawaharlal Nehru University students] Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid and says that Pakistan is not an enemy nation.”
However, Ms Kunki Chowdhury who has created a wave among the young voters, dismissed the charges of the chief minister while describing it baseless. Asserting that the BJP was confessing its defeat in central Guwahati seat by bringing such wild allegation, she said, “It has been just 15 days since I entered politics and the love and support I have received from people, they are visibly scared and sensing the defeat.”
In a video message posted on social media she said, “With the chief minister taking my name, the whole of India will now know who Kunki Chowdhury is.”
The mother also came out in defence of her daughter and asked BJP to do the fact-check before making such remarks. She rejected the allegations of supporting “anti-national elements” and underlined that her grandfather, Ari Bahadur Gurung, was a signatory to the Constitution as a representative of the Gorkha community. “It is my daughter who is contesting the election as per her own choice. I wonder why the chief minister is dragging common people like us into such false accusations. They should have checked the contents on social media, which they are pointing out, before making the allegations,” she said.
AJP chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi said Sarma targeting their candidate’s mother shows their desperation and inability to counter her popularity. The AJP is part of the Congress-led six-party alliance.
