Two seniors and a Youth Congress leader joined the BJP here on Sunday along expected lines but the ruling party took the opportunity to send a message to the new recruits that the party comes before self.
This was clear from the welcome address of the state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass for the six-time former Congress MLA and minister, Gautam Roy: that he will no longer be the Borakor roja (king of Barak) as he had been described in the media so far.
“Instead, from now he will be a karyakarta of the BJP. When he was in Congress media had described him as Borakor roja. We do not like it. It is also our request to the media friends not to use that epithet to him,” said Dass.
Roy, a former Congress strongman, who had never protested the use of the king title before, toed the partyline by appealing to the media not to use it again.
As Roy’s speech concluded, his followers shouted Jai Shri Ram. But Roy, who had vowed to shoulder any responsibility the BJP would entrust on him, asked them to raise the slogan Bharat Mata ki jai instead.
Roy was one of the three who joined the BJP at its state headquarters here on Sunday. The two others are tea community leader Santiuse Kujur, whose Rajya Sabha term ended recently, and former Assam Youth Congress president Hiranya Bhuyan, who had unsuccessfully contested from the Tezpur Assembly seat in 2016.
The joining of the trio came two days after another senior Congress leader Bhubaneswar Kalita switched over to the BJP.
The fresh round of migration from the Congress to the BJP in the state has been trolled by many in the social media. Cartoons and jokes have been circulating on social media saying that the BJP’s “Congress mukt” (Congress-free) slogan has now become “Congress jukt” (Congress-plus).
Asked about it, BJP leader and North East Democratic Alliance (Neda) convener Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “BJP is like a sea. The water of the rivers is bound to flow into it. People from various political parties will join the BJP after being attracted by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the working style of party president Amit Shah. I think this is a natural phenomenon.”
When reporters asked these were the same Congress leaders on which people of the state were dissatisfied and voted for the BJP for a change, Sarma said, “Every human being has a soul, which is the abode of God. I would not comment on an individual.”
He said if someone joins the BJP without shedding his Congress culture, he will not survive.
“Those Congress leaders who have joined the BJP have got everything in their lives. If they want to contribute to the party, they will survive. If they come to take, it will be difficult for them,” he said.
