Himanta Sarma Reveals Why Jamiat Chief Had Complained To Sonia Gandhi

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has hit back at Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (A) chief Arshad Madani over his remark that he had once written to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi over an election ticket given to him years earlier, when he was in the grand old party.

At a recent gathering, Mr Madani had claimed that in his letter, he had asked Mrs Gandhi not to give an election ticket to Mr Sarma. He said that he had warned the leadership that Mr Sarma carried what he described as an “RSS mentality”.

Slamming Mr Madani on Saturday, Mr Sarma said he has been complaining about him since 2011.

"In 2011, when I became Assam Education Minister, Mr Madani told Tarun Gogoi to stop the recruitment of TET teachers, but I did not stop it; I carried it forward. That is when Mr Madani went against me. In Congress, there are people like Mr Madani who work to weaken Assam. No one knows how many tickets they distributed, but today nobody even listens to him," Mr Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.

Assam Congress also reacted to the controversy. Speaking to NDTV, Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi said that his party's decisions were never influenced by Mr Madani.

"When he was in Congress, Himanta Sarma was hand in glove with the likes of Ajmal and Madani. While Madani has no business to involve himself in issues related to Assam, the Congress high command was never influenced by him over giving or denying tickets to anyone," said Mr Bordoloi.

Mr Sarma further claimed that ahead of the 2026 Assam polls, those sharing the ideology of Mr Madani might try to destabilise the state.

"Mr Madani has gone from being a hero to a zero. He will always oppose the BJP. Many such people will continue to oppose the BJP, whether it's Harsh Mandar or those involved in Shaheen Bagh protests. They cannot harm me but may try to indulge in inappropriate acts. We have a long-term agenda against the very sources behind Mr Madani, and we will continue to act firmly against them," Mr Sarma added.