Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday intensified his ongoing verbal battle with Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, delivering a strong rebuttal to the Congress leader’s recent assertion that Sarma would be jailed.
Addressing the media, the Chief Minister dismissed Gandhi’s statement as a baseless political barb, asserting that such remarks overlooked Assam’s real concerns.
“If this continues, Rahul Gandhi himself may end up in jail,” Sarma responded, pointing to the Enforcement Directorate's recent action involving properties allegedly associated with Gandhi’s brother-in-law, Robert Vadra.
He didn’t stop there. Taking another jab at the Gandhi family, Sarma added, “There are many jails in India that seem to be waiting for the Gandhis.”
Sarma also questioned Gandhi’s political authority, scoffing at the idea that a Member of Parliament could order the arrest of a sitting Chief Minister.
“He’s just a Member of Parliament, and he claims he’ll arrest a Chief Minister? This is absurd,” Sarma remarked. “People inside jail can’t arrest people outside. Let’s see what happens if he ends up there himself.”
Switching his focus to the Congress party in general, the Chief Minister denounced its strategy towards Assam, claiming a paucity of real vision for the state.
"They never mention jobs, land rights, or our culture," he claimed. "They have no slogan other than putting Himanta Biswa Sarma in jail. Who will vote for such a single-line artificial slogan?"
Earlier, Sarma had responded to Rahul Gandhi’s fierce criticism during his Assam visit by implying that the Congress leader had unintentionally elevated his political status. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Sarma noted that Gandhi had repeatedly brought up his name throughout the visit.
"Let me confess, I am thankful—because today, he has raised my political standing to a point where I would perhaps never have achieved had I been in the Congress party," the Chief Minister tweeted.
"He spoke of me again and again in all his meetings," Sarma said, adding that such attention from the Leader of the Opposition was "a matter of great satisfaction."
Looking back at his party switch in 2015, Sarma indicated that the accolades that followed would have been out of the question if he remained with the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi, at an interface with party workers in Chaygaon—about 40 kilometres from Guwahati—had made a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, labeling him corrupt and asserting that he would end up behind bars.
Gandhi accused Sarma of acting like a "raja" at the rally and said that the CM is "gripped with fear" and would be held accountable for his actions.
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