New Delhi: The Congress party on Sunday launched a scathing attack against the BJP’s Assam unit over a now-deleted X video, accusing it of depicting the “targeted point-blank murder of minorities” and urging the judiciary to intervene without leniency.
The contentious clip, posted on BJP Assam’s official handle, depicted chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma aiming a rifle at a sports complex and firing towards two figures — one sporting a skull cap, the other a beard — under the caption “point-blank shot.” Congress rejected it as innocuous troll fare, charging it as deliberate communal provocation.
General secretary K C Venugopal condemned the post as “poison spread from the very top,” alleging it reflected a “fascist regime’s” long-held genocidal dreams. “There is no hope Narendra Modi will condemn or act, but the judiciary must step in decisively,” he posted on X.
Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also hit out insisting mere deletion was insufficient. “This is who BJP really is: mass murderers. This venom, hatred, and violence is on you, Mr. Modi. Are courts and institutions sleeping?” she questioned, highlighting Sarma “shooting Muslim men.”
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed said in a post on X, “@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.”
“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.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also slammed the BJP.
“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.
“Shamelessly, EC will ignore this vilest form of hate and political targeting. Toothless and useless, literally, in front of BJP,” she added.
