Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resembles “Saddam Hussein,” the former Iraqi dictator, and that he should have dressed like Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, or Mahatma Gandhi.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari responded by calling the Assam CM a “petty troll.”
During the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, a mass contact initiative of the Congress, Gandhi has been seen sporting a beard.
“I just saw that his looks have also changed. I said in a TV interview a few days back that there is nothing wrong with his new look. But if you have to change the looks, at least make it like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel or even Jawaharlal Nehru will do. It is better if it looks like Gandhi Ji. But why is your face turning into Saddam Hussein?” Sarma said during a public rally in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
This is due to the Congress culture’s distance from Indians. According to Sarma, their culture is closer to that of people who have never understood India.
He also claimed that Gandhi (during the Bharat Jodo Yatra) avoided visiting states such as Himachal Pradesh, where elections were recently held, and poll-bound Gujarat, instead focusing on states where there were no polls because he knew he would be defeated wherever he went.
Sarma claimed to have seen (Narmada Bachao Andolan) activist Medha Patkar with Gandhi during the Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“She is the one who conspired to deprive Gujarat of water. Had she succeeded, the Narmada water would never have reached Kutch. Rahul Gandhi is doing Bharat Jodo Yatra with such people who never wanted Gujarat’s development,” the Assam CM claimed.
“I would not even like to dignify this diatribe with my reaction. I think it is very important that we maintain the decorum of language in public and maintain some propriety. The CM of Assam unfortunately sounds like a petty troll when he articulates sentences of this type.” Congress leader Manish Tewari said at a press conference in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 1 and 5, with vote counting beginning on December 8.