GUWAHATI, Feb 14 - Condemning Union Minister Kiren Rijiju for his comment that the Hindu population in India is going down as they �never convert people�, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the BJP is carrying out a sustained campaign across the country, including Assam, to divide the people on religious lines.
Addressing a press conference here today, Gogoi said Rijiju�s comment has violated the oath the Union Minister took to abide by the Constitution of India, which is based on the principle of secularism.
Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, had yesterday tweeted that, �Hindu population is reducing in India because Hindus never convert people. Minorities in India are flourishing unlike some countries around (sic).�
Gogoi said the BJP leaders are trying to generate unnecessary controversy even though Hindus constitute over 79 per cent of India�s population.
He also lambasted the comments made by Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the reply to the General Discussion on the Budget yesterday at the Assam Legislative Assembly.
�The Constitution has defined the term �minorities�. So the term �minorities� will exist till it remains in the Constitution,� Gogoi said.
He also castigated Sarma, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and other BJP leaders for supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Gogoi alleged discrimination in the eviction drive carried out by the government and said the step has been selective.
He criticised Finance Minister Sarma for mentioning the term �Hindu Adarsha� in his reply to the budget discussion and said that religion, politics and economics are all separate things and should be kept apart.
Gogoi said the law-and-order situation in the State has deteriorated over recent times and pointed to the alleged eve-teasing incident at Jorhat. He criticised Minister for Parliamentary Affairs CM Patowary for making �insensitive remarks� about the girl who has first brought the matter to light through use of social media.
�Government is duty bound to serve everybody and to provide protection to everybody. Even if the girl is a member of any student organisation what does it matter? Don�t BJP ministers use social media,� he argued.
Appreciating the action of the girl, Gogoi also criticised Sarma, who also holds the Education portfolio, for remaining mum on an issue of such sensitivity. �The Education Minister is always so prompt. Why is he silent now?�
He added, �The incident, which took place so near the residences of the DC and SP of Jorhat, proves that the law-and-order situation is worsening in the State. The government has taken a very serious issue very lightly.�
With regard to the budget and the economic condition of the State, Gogoi said that Sarma is either misleading the Chief Minister, or else Sonowal has failed to fulfil his duties, or else both are colluding in hiding the real financial condition.
�The Finance Minister is saying that there is no lack of funds. And yet there is no sign of work being undertaken at the ground level. Even hospitals do not have medicines, while schoolchildren are not getting their textbooks. If funds are available, why not spend them?� wondered the former Chief Minister, alleging that departments are not receiving funds.
He also launched a personal attack on Sarma and said that the Finance Minister �knows who to praise when and what words to use against any person at a point of time.�
He added that when Sarma was Minister of State for Finance in the then Congress government the financial condition of the State was not good and it only improved after 2005 when Sarma relinquished the charge.
Gogoi also said that he had shielded Sarma on many occasions. �Actually, he (Sarma) managed �that�, while I pretended not to know,� Gogoi said, but refused to elaborate.
�If Himanta can really take Assam�s per capita income to Gujarat�s level, I shall personally felicitate him,� said the former Chief Minister.