Himanta Biswa Sharma, BJP’s strategist of northeast and Assam health minister has been criticized and has been insulted by his former Congress colleagues, for linking the diseases that a person has with their past life. The Congress leader stated, “Accidents and all the life-threatening diseases are because of the sins that the person had committed in their past life”.
While speaking to school educators at a function organized by government lately in Guwahati, Mr. Sharma spoke about bad karma and good karma. An Assamese said, “When we commit some sin, Deity makes us agonize, we see sometimes youngsters getting attacked by disease like cancer, or we see accidents of youngsters, when you inquire about their conventual’s you learn, that it is god’s fairness, and nothing else.”
Mr. Sharma also alleged, Youngster might have done nothing, but his father must have done something wrong, or for that matter my mother or father did something wrong, circumstances of which I might have to face”. No one can get away from God’s righteousness.
The minister while distributing appointment letters to the teachers advised them to be honest and to work hard. Mr. Sharma himself is a graduate in law and has a degree of PhD.
Debabrata Saikia, a congress politician and leader in the assembly of Assam, said, “The comments given by Mr. Sharma were insensitive, and it has hurt the patients suffering from cancer. This shows his mentality”.
Assam minister commented on this, “Cancer disease is celestial fairness for sins”. P Chidambaram, Senior Congress leader, tweeted saying this is what swapping political group does to a person. He prompted Mr. Biswa to give a reply on Twitter, “Please don’t tweak my words, I simply said Hinduism believes in karma and the suffering of human being is linked with the absence of karma in past life. Don’t you believe in it? In your party, can Hindu viewpoint be discussed at all, well I don’t know.”
The comments given by the state health minister were also criticized by Assam’s opposition party AIUDF. Aminul Islam, All India United Democratic Front leader, stated, “Seeing the high number of cancer cases in Assam, Mr. Sharma is just trying to cover-up. He can’t control the ever-increasing cases of cancer there and has given up.”
Ever since he left Congress and has joined BJP, he has been accredited with BJP’s turn in fortune in the northeast. Months before the elections in Assam, BJP has welcomed him in the party and he has helped the party, for the first time to win power in the state. Mr. Sharma has also helped in winning over two more northeast states, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.###