'Don't gloat over Assam victory': CPI leader Atul Kumar Anjaan tells BJP

Communist Party of India (CPI) Secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan has asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not to gloat over its electoral success in Assam. Even as the new Cabinet, headed by Sarbananda Sonowal took oath on Tuesday, Anjaan said the BJP was celebrating its victory in Assam as if it were the successful completion of an Ashwamedha. He said the reality is that the BJP won by adopting people from other parties, including those from ideologies opposed to its own.

"If the BJP thinks that it is a big victory in Assam, it is not. The party has come to power with the help of hired leaders from other political parties, including AGP and Bodoland People's Front. There was a time when the BJP and its present allies were at loggerheads in the state," Anjaan told Patrika. Some 15 years back former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani used to deride the Bodoland movement as anti-national," he pointed out.

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He pointed out that the BJP's jubiliation is difficult to understand as even its chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal is not from its own stable, but from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

The case of Himanta Biswas Sarma was also similar as he had a Congress background, Anjaan noted. "This is not a big mandate. The Left parties had a bigger victory in Kerala but the media chose to downplay it," he said.

Refuting the BJP charge of the Left unleashing violence in Kerala after its victory, Anjaan said the developments in that State were minor compared to the large scale terror perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress on Left workers in West Bengal.

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"As many as 49 offices of the Communist parties were destroyed in three days after the election results. Around 350 persons were injured; many sustained head injuries. Never in the history of democratic elections has any political party set fire to so many offices of its rivals after winning," he charged. "BJP president Amit Shah is talking about violence in Kerala. He is silent about the violence in West Bengal perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress," he said.

Speaking about the outcome in Kerala, Anjaan said all the communities, the majority Hindus as well as the minority Muslims and Christians reposed their faith in the secular character of the Left Democratic Front and voted it to power with a huge mandate of 94 seats. "The Congress party's appeasement policy did not work this time. The SNDP got exposed in the current polls by forming the BJDS to align with the BJP. Muslims voted for LDF as they have faith in the Left to protect them from the communal forces. We don't mix religion, caste and politics," Anjaan said.

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