Congress workers had shown “large-heartedness” by not holding the Gandhi family accountable for the party’s electoral debacles, but the situation would change after the Lok Sabha elections, said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK Chief Associate Editor Riyad Mathew and Delhi Deputy Chief of Bureau Namrata Biji Ahuja, Sarma said this would be the last election of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
“I think this is their last election. I was in the Congress for 22 years. People have shown great loyalty towards the family. They will be made accountable for being out of power for 15 years. Congress workers have shown large-heartedness by not holding the family accountable….,” he said.
Sarma, who left the Congress to join the BJP in 2015, remarked that after the general elections, people would realise that the Gandhi surname had no political equity.
“People will put up with one loss, two losses…. But after this election, people will realise that the Gandhi surname has no political equity. They will realise that they won Telangana because of the equity of a local politician. If there is victory in Karnataka, it is not because of the Gandhi name,” he said.
>>Read the full interview in the current issue of THE WEEK
Sarma’s renewed attack on the Gandhi family comes at a time when the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, led by Rahul Gandhi, entered Assam on January 18.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday, the chief minister alleged that the Gandhi family is the most corrupt one in the country.
"The Gandhi family is the most corrupt family in the country. This is not 'Nyay Yatra, it's 'Miya Yatra'. Wherever there are Muslims, they visit those places," he said.
Miya is a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam.
