Guwahati, April 3: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today warned of a sinister BJP design to turn Assam into another Gujarat by whipping up communal frenzy through the ongoing rathyatra.

Gogoi said the BJP, with an eye to next year’s general elections, is trying to divide the people of Assam on communal lines through the yatra.

“First, the BJP called it a rathyatra, then changed the name to jana jagaran yatra just to hoodwink the people. Actually, the party is not at all interested in the welfare of Assam but has an ulterior motive of dividing the people,” the chief minister told newsmen here today.

In order to mobilise public opinion in support of scrapping the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, the BJP rolled out four saffron raths from four different corners of the state on March 25.

The yatra will conclude with a public rally at the Judges Field here on Monday. BJP president Venkaiah Naidu and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will take part in the rally.

The chief minister, however, said his government would not prevent the BJP from holding the rally or going ahead with the yatra as it would amount to giving the party undue publicity. But he warned that nobody was above the law and any move to trigger communal passion in the state would be firmly dealt with.

Reacting for the first time against the yatra, the chief minister said the BJP’s claim of mustering public support to repeal the IM(DT) Act and against stepped-up ISI activity vis-à-vis cross-border terrorism, did not hold good as only the Centre can deal with such issues.

By raising these issues, the BJP was actually exposing the failure of its own government in New Delhi, Gogoi said. He said instead of taking out such a yatra in the state, the party, if it is at all sincere about the welfare of the people, should take up the issues with the Centre.

“If the BJP really cares for the welfare of the people, then why is it silent on the injustice done to the state by the 10th finance commission?” the chief minister asked.

Stating that the BJP’s yatra has evoked a very “poor response,” the chief minister went on to congratulate the people of Assam for not “falling prey” to its “evil design”.

He said the yatra was opposed by all sections of the people, including the student organisations.

The Sadou Assam Bengali Yuba Chatra Parishad has jumped into the protest bandwagon, giving a call for a 12-hour Nagaon bandh on April 5. The parishad apprehended that the yatra would create communal tension in the state and as a result, Bengali Hindus would be victimised.