‘Country needs Modi, not Akbar’: Assam CM targets Chhattisgarh’s sole Muslim minister

Himanta Biswa Sarma told people at a rally that unless the BJP candidate won, an ‘Akbar from Kawardha will take over the whole of Chhattisgarh’.

Oct 19, 2023 - 14:30

‘Country needs Modi, not Akbar’: Assam CM targets Chhattisgarh’s sole Muslim minister

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday delivered a vitriolic speech targeting Chhattisgarh’s only Muslim minister, Congress leader Mohammad Akbar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader made the comments while addressing a rally in the state’s Kawardha. Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases on November 7 and November 17.

Sarma was campaigning for BJP candidate from Kawardha, Vijay Sharma, who is contesting against Akbar, a four-time Congress MLA from the constituency.

“To save Chhattisgarh from love jihad, religious conversion, and people like Akbar, we need people like Vijay Sharma,” the Assam chief minister said. “Do you want Akbar or Vijay? Make Vijay win the elections or else this Akbar from Kawardha will take over the whole of Chhattisgarh.”

हम हिंदू हैं। हमें secularism का पाठ मत पढ़ाइये l pic.twitter.com/OoLvivQDFN— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 19, 2023

“Love jihad” is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men lure Hindu women into romantic relationships in order to convert them to Islam. Despite the Union home ministry telling Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining such a term, BJP leaders continue to use the bogey of “love jihad” to oppose interfaith couples.

“In Assam, we are suffering and so, we can see the future,” Sarma said. “Forty years ago, our elders also made one such...