Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday criticised the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying it should rather try to integrate Pakistan and Bangladesh with the country to create “Akhand Bharat” or undivided India, PTI reported.
“India is united and integrated from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Silchar to Saurashtra and there is no need for the unification,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.
Sarma’s remarks came at a time when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is in India on a four-day diplomatic visit.
According to the Congress, its all-India march is aimed to counter the “environment of hate” prevalent in the country, besides flagging the problems of increasing unemployment, rising prices and political centralisation.
The 3,570-kilometre-long tour will cover 12 states and two Union Territories in about five months. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has described the march as its biggest mass-contact exercise since Independence and a “turning point” in India’s political history.
On Wednesday, Sarma, who had joined the BJP in 2015 after quitting the Congress, said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is a “comedy of the century”.
“The Bharat that we live in today is resilient, robust and united,” Sarma wrote in a tweet. “The only time India was divided was in 1947 because Congress agreed for it. Rahul Gandhi ji should go to Pakistan for ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ if they want unification.”
In response, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described Sarma as boyish and immature.
“I don’t take Assam CM [Sarma] seriously,” Ramesh said, according to ANI. “He has to prove his loyalty every day after having been a part of Congress for 20-25 years. He is a recent migrant to the BJP, so he has to make outrageous statements every day.”
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