New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of promoting hate and targeting minorities after a purported video shared on the ruling party’s Assam unit X handle allegedly showed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma firing a rifle at two individuals identified as minorities.
Congress seeks judicial action
The video, which has since been deleted, was captioned “point-blank shot” and appeared to show Sarma aiming and firing at two people, one wearing a skull cap and another sporting a beard. The Congress said the clip amounted to direct incitement to violence and could not be brushed aside as online trolling.
Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal described the post as a dangerous escalation of hate and called for immediate judicial intervention.
“An official BJP handle posted a video showing the targeted, ‘point-blank’ murder of minorities. This is nothing but a call to genocide – a dream this fascist regime has harboured for decades,” Venugopal said on X.
He said deleting the post did not reduce the gravity of the matter. “This is not an innocuous video to be ignored as troll content, but as poison spread from the very top, and there must be consequences for this,” he said.
‘No hope from PM’
Venugopal added that there was little expectation of action from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is no hope that Narendra Modi will condemn or act against this, but the judiciary must act, and there shouldn’t be any leniency shown in this case,” he added.
Congress says deletion does not absolve responsibility Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said removing the video was insufficient and accused the ruling party of normalising extreme violence.
“This is who the BJP really is: Mass murderers. This venom, hatred and violence is on you, Mr Modi. Are the courts and other institutions sleeping?” she said on X.
Another Congress spokesperson, Shama Mohammed, said the episode reflected a direct attack on constitutional values. “@narendramodi, you talk about ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, but your favourite man, Himanta Biswa Sarma, made a video Shooting Muslims and got it posted from the official handle of BJP Assam,” she said.
She also questioned the judiciary’s silence. “This is an attack on the Indian Constitution. I am shocked that the Supreme Court of India is acting as a mute spectator. The court’s silence and failure to take suo motu cognisance puts its role into question,” she added.
Opposition leaders target BJP and EC
Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also criticised the BJP and the Election Commission over the incident.
“The BJP Assam Pradesh X handle posted one of the most hate-driven, targeted videos titled ‘Point Blank Shot’; after outrage, it went on to delete the post, but it was there long enough for many people to download and spread it further,” Chaturvedi said on X.
She accused the poll body of inaction. “Shamelessly, EC will ignore this vilest form of hate and political targeting. Toothless and useless, literally, in front of BJP,” she added.
BJP yet to respond
The BJP has not issued any response to the allegations so far, even as the opposition continues to demand judicial scrutiny and accountability over the now deleted post.