Himanta Biswa Sarma on Rahul Gandhi: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that he was never impressed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's arguments, logic, or deeds. He was replying to questions from Rajat Sharma in the show 'Aap Ki Adalat', to be telecast on Saturday (May 27) on India TV.
CM Sarma revealed what happened in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi, after which he left Congress and joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Rajat Sharma: I heard you went and met Rahul Gandhi, but he devoted more time to his pet.
Sarma: "No the story is like this. Rahul Gandhi had called a meeting in which the then CM Tarun Gogoi, myself, party in-charge CP Joshi and Assam Congress chief Anjan Dutta were present. We went to his room and talks began. Five minutes later, his pet dog came, and start eating the biscuits that were served with tea for us on the table. I looked at the other three leaders, they were eating comfortably from the same table. I had gone to meet for the first time. I felt, this was their culture, having food with pet dogs. I said, I can't be like this, I can't eat like this. I decided not to go there again."
Rajat Sharma: Later Rahul posted a video with his pet dog?
Sarma: Yes, it was the same pet dog...
Rajat Sharma: But Congress people wrote with the video, the dog proved more loyal than you?
Sarma: Now where is the question of loyalty? We did not join the party for loyalty to a family. Were they paying salary to me? We should demystify all this. Rahul was one of our colleagues in a political party. Others may have taken favours from him. I don't what Congressmen have in mind about loyalty. For me, loyalty is not to a family, my loyalty is to the nation....Whatever is left of the Congress today is because of Mahatma Gandhi. They hijacked his name. Even today, if you cut out the surname of Gandhi from Sonia ji and Rahul's names, what is left? This title has been hijacked. Congress belong to Mahamanav Mahatma Gandhi. Otherwise, where is the Congress? Gandhi family does not belong to Mahatma Gandhi."
The Assam CM said, "Look, I knew Rahul Gandhi since childhood and I was never impressed by his merit. When I was in Congress, I used to meet Sonia Gandhi regularly, but I never met Rahul Gandhi. I was never impressed by his merits, his deeds, his arguments, logic and his capacity to do public service. Those who never struggle in life, can never become the leader of a country like India."
Assam CM on UCC:
On the issue of uniform civil code, the Assam CM said that every Muslim woman voter will vote for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 15 to 20 years from now.
"I predict, 15 to 20 years from now, every Muslim woman voter will vote for BJP, because we have abolished 'triple talaq' and we will surely do away with polygamy. Even Prophet Mohammed, whom Muslims revere as 'Nabi', was in favour of monogamy. On polygamy, the Prophet had said, this could be done only with the consent of existing wives. The Directive Principles of State Policy in our Constitution clearly says we should bring a common civil code, which we will surely implement," Sarma stated.
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