The Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam has deferred all its political activities, including virtual rallies aimed at the 2021 Assembly elections, in view of the death of Indian soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.
The party’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda was to have addressed six virtual rallies in Assam — one each in Dibrugarh, Barak Valley, Barpeta and Guwahati and two in northern Assam. Such rallies had been planned because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to maintain social distancing, BJP leaders said.
“In solidarity with our armed forces, we have decided to postpone all political activities that include a virtual rally today (June 18),” BJP’s Assam unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said on Thursday.
He did not specify which of the six digital rallies was to have been organised first.
A note from Mr. Nadda shared by the State BJP said: “The supreme sacrifice of our brave soldiers while guarding our motherland in Galwan Valley will always be remembered... The BJP has decided to postpone all its political programmes including virtual rallies for the next two days.”
The elections to the 126 Assembly seats are slated to be held by May 2021. The BJP, which had won 60 seats in 2017, has set a target of 100 in a bid to decrease dependence on regional allies.
The majority mark in the House is 64.
Party allies
The BJP’s allies are the Asom Gana Parishad with 14 seats and Bodoland People’s Front with 12.
Apart from the virtual rallies at the State-level, the BJP had planned smaller rallies through videoconferencing across its 39 organisational districts and 390 mandal committees for the next three months.
