Explained: Possible reasons why Rahul Gandhi's yatra face hurdles in Assam

There may be more to the ongoing bitter verbal exchange between Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rahul Gandhi which intensified on Sunday, with Gandhi calling Sarma’s entire family corrupt.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is currently traversing through Assam for the Bharat Jodo Naya Yatra has faced multiple hurdles right from the time the yatra entered the State.

A day after Congress workers clashed with Assam Police in Guwahati, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in raising concerns wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting adequate security for Rahul Gandhi during the yatra. Congress president categorically listed five instances in which the Assam Police did not provide adequate security to Gandhi.

The Congress also claimed that on the day when the Yatra entered Assam on January 18, a first information report (FIR) was lodged in the Jorhat district against the Yatra and its chief organiser.

There may be more to the ongoing bitter verbal exchange between Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rahul Gandhi which intensified on Sunday, with Gandhi calling Sarma’s entire family corrupt.

A possible retaliatory action?

In an interview with The Wire, Yogendra Yadav, the convenor of the Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan, said there was truth in the suspicion that this could be Assam CM’s retaliation or revenge for the fact that Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly called the most corrupt chief minister in the country.

Reportedly, Sarma has ordered the director general of police in Assam to file a case against Rahul Gandhi for provoking and inciting the crowds.

When Sarma exited Congress

In August 2015, when Himanta Biswa Sarma joined the BJP following differences with the Congress leadership in Assam, 10 MLAs followed him. Then chief minister Tarun Gogoi gave a two-worded response to his exit — “good riddance”.

Sarma has never hidden his political ambitions. He quit the Congress after Tarun Gogoi projected his son Gaurav, now a parliamentarian, as the face of Assam’s Congress leadership. This, despite Sarma managing the 2011 election campaign for the party, and helping it win an unprecedented 79 seats in the 126-member assembly.

Rahul’s continuous attack on Himanta

Moments after Rahul Gandhi resumed his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra further into Assam from Barpeta, a day after facing a roadblock in an attempt to enter Guwahati city, he has relaunched his attack on the Assam chief minister calling him the most corrupt chief minister in the country.

"The Chief Minister of Assam (Himanta Biswa Sarma) spreads hate all the time and takes away your (referring to the public) lands. He is the most corrupt chief minister," Rahul said.

Recalling Himanta’s past jibes

The Assam chief minister had attacked the Congress leader during the first leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra Sarma was quoted saying the Congress leader looked like "Saddam Hussein", the former Iraqi dictator, and it would have been better had he turned his appearance like Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi. The "Saddam Hussein" comment by Sarma was seen as a dig at Gandhi and his party for what the BJP always claimed as Muslim appeasement politics.