GUWAHATI: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) toned down his rhetoric on Friday after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma castigated state Congress president Bhupen Bora for his alleged remarks while ostensibly trying to draw a parallel between 'love jihad' and Lord Krishna and Rukmini's love story.
CM Sarma had threatened Bora of arrest on Thursday in the event of a police case filed against the latter for hurting religious sentiments, escalating the matter to a verbal duel, as is his wont in cases like this.
However, on Friday, APCC president Bhupen Borah asked for forgiveness from the people of Assam for his brazen comment equating Lord Krishna and Rukmini’s relationship with that of Love Jihad, saying that his ancestors reprimanded him in his dreams.
Bora remarks came during his comments on the Golaghat triple murder case, where he disagreed with the CM regarding classification of the incident as one of ‘love jihad.’
“Last night, I had a vision in my sleep. My ancestors came to me in my dream and made me realise my mistake over the comments. They told me to visit a Namghar and pray,” the Congress leader told the media here in Guwahati.
The backdrop to this threat is the horrific incident in Assam's Golaghat district on Monday, when a 25-year-old man killed his wife and her parents over some alleged family issues, later surrendering before the police.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has been claiming that this was a case of "love jihad" simply because the husband happened to be a Muslim and the wife a Hindu.
Bora rebuffed Sarma's claim by pointing out to the many stories in the ancient texts, including that about Krishna eloping with Rukmini, and said the chief minister should not be harping about marriages between people of different religions and communities in the present age.
CM Sarma then hit back at Bora, saying that the Cong chief’s drawing a parallel between 'love jihad' and Lord Krishna and Rukmini's love story is condemnable.
While saying he did not want to take the step of arresting people, he was persistent that if Lord Krishna is dragged into controversy, there was the chance of 'sanatani' people filing cases in police stations and then it will not be possible for him to stop the police from taking action.
Without naming Bora directly the CM said that if someone files a case against any person for making such comments, he is likely to be arrested,.
CM Sarma then explained that 'Love jihad' is referred to a situation when a girl is forced to marry a person of another religion by changing her religion, whereas Krishna did not force Rukmini to change her religion.
Himanta Biswa went on to righteously declare that "mistakes" made by human beings ought not to be compared with Gods, just like, he said, they do not drag in Hazrat Muhammad and Jesus Christ into any controversy.
Going one step further, the CM called upon the Congress not to drag Lord Krishna into any controversy. “If the Congress keeps going against the Hindus, their last address will be mosques and madrasas.” the Assam CM said, tongue-in-cheek.
Himanta Biswa Sarma also declared that peace will reign in the country if Hindu men only marry women of their own community, while Muslim men marry women of their community.
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