Badruddin Ajmal slams Congress for not having a holistic approach towards minorities in Assam.
By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Assam’s main opposition party All Indian United Democratic Front (AIUDF) which is all set to spread its wing in West Bengal for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls is not going to have an alliance with Congress at any cost. Party chief Badruddin Ajmal said that it will be like committing suicide if they join hands with Congress. He, however, said that door is open for any secular party for partnership.
He also slammed the ruling party of not having a holistic approach towards the minority communities in the state. “We have taken an anti-Congress stand since the beginning and we will never compromise with our ideologies at any cost. Joining hands with Congress means killing ourselves with our own hands. Even if Sonia Gandhi approaches us, we will not change our stand,” Ajmal said.
On the possible alliance with other parties, Ajmal said that his party is ready for any such development provided if the party believes in secularism. “Our door is open for any secular party—be it AGP, CPI (M), Samajwadi or anybody but never for BJP and Congress,” he added.
On the alliance with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the centre and opposing Congress here in the state, Ajmal said that between UPA and National Democratic Alliance (NDA), they had to choose for UPA. “UPA does not mean Congress. There are other parties as well and comparatively they are more secular than NDA,” Ajmal said.
Development of various minority communities will be main agenda of the party for the elections both in Assam and in West Bengal. AIUDF will contest from at least 14 seats from the neighbouring state besides 10 seats in Assam this time.
“For the last 10 years or so the status of not just Muslims but all people belonging to the minority communities has been extremely pathetic both in Assam and Bengal. There is no any holistic approach from the government to work towards the uplift of the community. The huge amount of fund either goes back to centre or is misused by the ministers,” he said.
The perfume baron also said of giving opportunity to the people of all communities to contest in the election for the party to bring a change in the image as many tagged the party as for Muslims only. “We will give minimum tickets to Muslims and majority will be given to the people of other backward classes who really deserves. Though some try to say that we are a Muslim based party but we are not. We have given opportunities to all the communities and this time we will do it more,” he said.
The Dhubri MP further said that there will be no effect of Narendra Modi in Assam and criticized the Gujrat chief minister and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Modi for spending huge sum of money in the name of publicity and to try to win people with such means.
In Assam the party is expected to contest Dhubri, Barpeta, Mangaldoi, Tezpur, Nagaon, Guwahati, Lakhimpur, Koliabor, Silchar, Karimganj, Dibrugarh and Kokrajhar seats while in West Bengal it will contest in Cooch Behar, Raiganj, Malda (North), Malda (South), Jangipur, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Krishnanagar, Basirhat, Joynagar, Uluberia, Srerampur, Diamond Harbour, and Balurghat constituencies.
In the last assembly polls, it managed to win 18 seats and emerged as the largest opposition party in the state Assembly. Since its formation in 2006, AIUDF has not tied up with any political party but has been gaining strength with each election.