In the lead-up to the Assam Assembly polls to be held later this year, Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not get any seats in areas dominated by Miya Muslims, as they do not vote for the BJP.
‘Miya Muslim’ is a colloquial term used to refer to Bengali Muslims in Assam.
Citing his past experience, Sarma said that Miya Muslims did not vote for the BJP in Panchayat and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“Miya Muslims don’t vote for us (BJP), I am saying this on the basis of experience. They didn’t vote for us in Panchayat and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. BJP will not get votes in the seats that are in their (Miya Muslims) hands, while other seats are ours,” Sarma told reporters on Saturday.
“We will field our candidates in those (Miya Muslims) seats so that people who do not identify themselves with ‘Miya Muslims’ get an option to vote for lotus (BJP’s symbol) or elephant (Asom Gana Parishad’s symbol)”, he added.
The Assembly polls are likely to take place in the April-May time frame for 126 Assembly seats.
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