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'There is a saying in Assamese about inflicting pain on an adversary: He cut my hands with a sword and rubbed salt into my wounds.'
'This has never been the BJP's culture but it started happening openly and frequently under Himanta Biswa Sarma.'
Ashok Sarma, the former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Nalbari in Assam, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com why he quit the BJP and joined the Congress on August 9 even as he blames the erosion of the BJP's original culture on Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also hails from Nalbari district.
"He holds no loyalty to the BJP. He doesn't bother about ideals like loyalty. For him everything is commerce," alleges Sarma.
You have been an RSS worker all your life. What made you quit the BJP?
The crop of BJP leaders who are controlling Assam today are actually Congressis. Even after joining the BJP they still believe 100 per cent in the Congress. They only pay lip service to Hindutva but don't work for it on the ground. That is why Assam's BJP culture today is very much like the Congress culture.
In 2015, many senior Congress leaders, after getting influenced by the BJP's ideology joined the BJP. I had told the senior BJP leadership then that we were forming the next government in Assam without the help of these entrants from Congress.
Everybody knows how he (Himanta Biswa Sarma) managed Amit Shah, joined the BJP and won the assembly seat in the 2016 election.
In the beginning he kept quiet and played second fiddle to Sarbananda Sonowal (then the Assam chief minister and now the MP from Dibrugarh and Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways).
He succeeded in entering the good books of the Delhi leadership, highlighting his importance for the party, eventually sidelining Sarbananda Sonowal.
He just chose one leader and managed him; he still shares a very cordial relationship with that leader.
Who is this BJP leader you are talking about?
Amit Shah, who else?
He (Himanta Biswa Sarma) knows how to influence voters as well as leaders. He holds no loyalty to the BJP. He doesn't bother about ideals like loyalty. For him everything is commerce.
He has successfully engineered a split between the Hindus and Muslims through the politics of polarisation.
What is it that you find so offensive about the Congress culture that you quit the BJP just because you claim that Himanta Biswa Sarma's entry brought the Congress culture into the BJP?
I would feel so before that they (the national and state Congress leadership and their politics) were creating a rift between the Muslims and the BJP. That is the reason why we never chose the Congress. Today, Himanta Biswa Sarma is also trying to create a rift between the Muslims and the BJP.
In 2014, 2015 and 2016 many senior Congress leaders joined the BJP because they were angry with the communal politics of Himanta Biswa Sarma (who was then in the Congress).
These recent entrants into the BJP began a campaign of hatred and humiliation against senior leaders like me.
Today, there is no RSS in Assam to control the BJP. He owns the RSS leadership in Assam today.
That made me think: Why should I stick to a party that has become Congress Number Two in Assam. Why not join the original Congress instead of being part of a duplicate Congress?
I will continue to remain unhappy in the BJP in this situation; there's nothing I would be able to do for the people of India. That's why I decided to join the original Congress party and teach him (Himanta Biswa Sarma) a lesson.
Why do you want to teach him a lesson?
He only understands money. He knows how to use money to influence people.
But didn't senior leaders like you when they were in the BJP level the same charges against the Congress? And now you have joined the same Congress!
When we did it the Congress was a different party. Today, Himanta Biswa Sarma brought all those Congressmen into the Assam BJP. That is the reason why I, and many, many like-minded people, who were in the Assam BJP made up our mind to join the Congress.
If all such people from the Congress can enter the BJP (without the BJP's central leadership taking any action against them), then why shouldn't honest people like me join the Congress? The Congress doesn't have any corrupt and communal people today.
How is Himanta Biswa Sarma eroding the BJP culture in Assam, as you allege?
The way he is dominating the BJP in the state with the help of money and muscle power, people in the state are moving away from the party. Even those who have been loyal to the RSS and BJP now want to teach him a lesson.
Our central leadership fails to take cognisance of his shrewd character. They are so taken over by his charm that they not only inducted him into the party but even gave him a free hand to rule Assam.
We vehemently opposed his entry into the BJP, but he has, kind of, mesmerised our central leaders. Nobody listened to us. Who will listen to an ordinary district president like me?
He alleged that I did not help the BJP win many seats in Nalbari district because I was denied a ticket. While I worked very hard and helped win two BJP seats from Nalbari district even though I was denied a ticket to contest from Nalbari in the 2021 assembly election.
He systematically sidelined me from all party organisations at the state and district level and ensured he publicly humiliated me when doing so.
There is a saying in Assamese about inflicting pain on an adversary: He cut my hands with a sword and rubbed salt into my wounds.
This has never been the BJP's culture but it started happening openly and frequently under Himanta Biswa Sarma. Just to spite me he even removed the plaque that had my name as well as that of Sarbananda Sonowal commemorating the foundation laying ceremony of two over-bridges in my district.
He made me so helpless that I was left with no choice but to quit the BJP to save myself from more humiliation.
Not just me. He is doing the same with dozens of loyal BJP and RSS leaders in Assam.
If what you claim in this interview is true, then why is Amit Shah supporting him?
Was there any reason for those 40 MLAs from Maharashtra to come to Assam? Is Assam such a famous state? Who supported these MLAs in Assam? Who was the link that these MLAs got such five-star treatment in Assam?
If this is how the BJP and RSS workers are being treated by Himanta Biswa Sarma as you allege, then how will this impact the BJP's electoral prospects in 2026?
The people of Assam will kick out the BJP government in 2026. The Congress will rout Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP in Assam in the 2026 assembly election.
What role will you play in the Congress now?
The party whose lalan-palan (nourishment) we oversaw in its infancy and which we nourished to groom into a strong organisation abjectly humiliated and forced people like me to quit the party.
Now, what can we ask from the party (Congress) that gave us shelter in our time of crisis? I will accept whatever they give me.