Every bit of Sarbananda Sonowal's campaign seems crafted by a leader keen to avoid unnecessary controversy.
Highlights
- Sonowal said food preferences are a matter of individual choice.
- In Assam, designated centres can slaughter cattle.
- He said government has taken the step of permanently sealing the border
Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Assam, is steering clear of the controversy over cow slaughter in the poll-bound state. Asked if he would follow Maharashtra and Haryana in enforcing a blanket ban on cow slaughter, he said food preferences are a matter of individual choice and the government will have to respect it.
"Dietary choices is a private matter... How can you denounce something that is centuries old? People must feel secure and comfortable," Mr Sonowal told NDTV.
In Assam, designated centres can slaughter cattle that carry a "fit for slaughter" certificate. And like elsewhere in the north-east, beef is consumed especially among the 35% Muslim population.
Asked what he thinks of the beef ban in BJP-ruled Haryana and Maharashtra, Mr Sonowal refused to give a categorical answer. "I am confined to Assam and I will have to shoulder the responsibility if people desire," said the 53-year-old.
Mr Sonowal, who started as a leader of the once powerful All Assam Students' Union or AASU, fought and won a long legal battle to scrap a law -- Illegal Migrants Determination Tribunal or IMDT Act -- that was perceived to be favoring "illegal migrants" from Bangladesh.
Responding to the charge that the alleged Bangladeshi infiltration issue was an election stunt for the BJP, he said, "We are in the process of identifying bonafide citizens".
The government, he added, has already taken the big step of permanently sealing the border, which will prevent smuggling of cattle and other illegal activity and also further influx of Bangladeshi nationals.
Every bit of Mr Sonowal's campaign seemed crafted by a leader keen to avoid unnecessary controversy.
Pressed for his comments to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's barb that he was not a worthy competitor and his (Gogoi's) fight was against Prime Minister Modi, Mr Sonowal said: "I have full respect for Gogoi ji. It is not a competition but about bringing change to the lives of the people. It is about parivartan."
Who takes the blame if the BJP doesn't succeed? "Of course, it will be me as the party has made me its face. But I hope that stage will not come, as people want a change," Mr Sonowal told NDTV.