Rahul Gandhi on 'Jinnah's path,' says Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday remarked that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was following Muhammad Ali Jinnah instead of Mahatma Gandhi. This, Chouhan said, will 'not be accepted by the people of Assam or people of India.'

"Rahul Gandhi is not walking the path of (Mahatma) Gandhi, he is walking the path of Jinnah and Jinnah’s path will neither be accepted by the people of Assam, nor by people of India," Chouhan said while addressing a rally in Assam's Naharkatia.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader further charged that the Congress has failed to carry out any developmental work in the northeast 'since Independence.'

On Congress' alliance with Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Chouhan accused the party of joining someone who, he alleged, 'has filled Assam with infiltrators.' The Madhya Pradesh CM said, "Congress joined with a man like Badruddin Ajmal who supported infiltrators and left no stone unturned in destroying Assam, who talks about creating a Muslim nation. He (Badruddin Ajmal) has a perfume business, but is spreading poison in the society... If 'naagraj' and 'saapraj' ally, then Assam cannot be developed."

"Ajmal is a man with whom even Tarun Gogoi did not join hands. This is an insult to Gogoi too," he added. Gogoi, a senior Congress leader and former Assam chief minister, passed away last November.

Chouhan alleged that the Congress is doing divide and rule politics in India. "Congress has allied with Muslim League in Kerala and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in West Bengal. Rahul Gandhi is dividing India into north and south, while doing the same politics in Assam, creating differences between different tribes and communities."

The BJP leader was referring to Gandhi's remark in Kerala last month, when the former Congress president spoke about how 'north India had a different type of politics but in Kerala, people are interested in issues.' The Congress leader is a Lok Sabha MP from the state's Wayanad constituency; he lost to BJP's Smriti Irani in his home bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 general elections.

Chouhan also targetted Gandhi over his 'promise' of setting up a fisheries ministry, saying that it is already in place. "His tube light lit a little late. This party which is so directionless, how will they work for the development of Assam?"

Chouhan was in Naharkatia, which is going to the polls in the first phase on March 27, to campaign for first-time BJP candidate Taranga Gogoi. Assam will vote in two more phases, on April 1 and 6. Counting of votes for all 126 constituencies will take place on May 2.