Now, BJP indulging in Muslim appeasement, says party’s former Assam unit president

BJP's Rajen Gohain warns against Muslim appeasement strategy in Assam to win Lok Sabha elections, highlighting demographic changes.

GUWAHATI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has adopted the Muslim appeasement template from Congress to win the Lok Sabha elections in Assam, the BJP’s former State unit president and four-time MP Rajen Gohain said.

Warming up to Muslims after claiming the party does not need ‘Miya’ (a pejorative term for migrant Bengali-origin Muslims) votes could be counterproductive for the BJP, he warned after casting his vote in Nagaon town on April 26.

A former Union Minister, Mr. Gohain represented the Nagaon (Nowgong earlier) parliamentary seat four times from 1999 to 2014. Post-delimitation in 2023, the constituency is estimated to have 58% Muslim voters, up from about 54% earlier.

“The BJP did not have much of a contest in the constituencies such as Nagaon, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, and Guwahati. The electoral battle appears tough this time because the demographic changes due to the delimitation, forcing our party to indulge in Muslim appeasement,” Mr. Gohain said.

“Our dedicated party workers will never support the idea of BJP appeasing Muslims like Congress. The party leadership should take note of this development, which will damage us politically,” he added.

Mr. Gohain came down heavily on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for seeking the votes of the Muslims after often speaking against them and saying schemes such as Basundhara (land settlement for the landless indigenous people) are “not for Miyas”.

He also warned that the new crop of BJP leaders, many of whom came from other parties, were gradually pushing the older set out and playing with the party ideology.