The 126-member Assam assembly will witness a fight between two alliances as it goes to polls from March 27. The BJP is contesting this election in an alliance with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, has formed a ‘Grand Alliance’ with the AIUDF, BPF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM), RJD and the Jimochayan (Deori) Peoples Party (JPP).

Both parties are looking to make a breakthrough in the state after a fractured mandate in the 2016 elections. In 2016, the BJP became the single largest party with 60 MLAs, while its allies AGP and PF had won 14 and 12 seats respectively. The ruling coalition also had the support of an Independent MLA.

In the run-up to the polls, both sides have gone hard at each other. Here’s a look at the controversies that have erupted ahead of the Assam polls:

‘India will become an Islamic nation’

A video clip from All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) founder Badruddin Ajmal went viral on social media. In the clip, Ajmal can be heard talking about the Congress-UPA ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and about making India an Islamic nation.

But an Opoyi factcheck found that the 36-second clip had been created by merging snippets from Ajmal’s 15-minute long speech made at barpeta in 2019.

“For 800 years, Mughal Emperors had ruled India and they did not have the guts to even dream that this nation will become an Islamic nation,” is what Ajmal said at the rally.

CAA bill vs Toolkit

Before the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, India was witnessing protests against the against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

In their election manifesto, Congress has guaranteed a law to nullify the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi have attacked the BJP government over CAA during their election rallies.

“No religion has asked to use hatred. Where is it written in Hinduism that there should be ‘nafrat’ (hatred)? It is BJP that spreads hatred to divide society and wherever they do it Congress goes there to promote love, brotherhood and harmony,” Rahul said at a rally in Lahowal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the other hand, accused the Congress of openly supporting forces that are out to finish the identity of Assam tea and destroy its tea industry.

He said a toolkit recently sought to defame Assam tea, famous across the world, and Yoga, the legacy of India’s ancient saints, as part of a ‘conspiracy’.