'Rahul Gandhi looks beautiful BUT...': Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma repeats 'Saddam' barb at Congress leader

NEW DELHI: Assam Chief Minister and BJP's star campaigner for Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Himanta Biswa Sarma has reiterated that Congress leader “Rahul Gandhi looks like Saddam Hussein with his beard". Justifying his controversial statement, the Assam Chief Minister, however, said that the Congress leader looks beautiful. Sarma added that "Rahul Gandhi is a glamourous person. But, with his beard, he looks like Saddam Hussein – the former dictator of Iraq).”

When told that his comments triggered a meme fest and prompted an army of trollers to target the Gandhi scion, Sarma said ''if Rahul Gandhi cuts his beard and all, he will look like his great-grandfather (PM Jawaharlal Nehru).''

The Assam Chief Minister made these remarks while speaking to a private TV news channel during which he also touched down on various other issues like bulldozing of illegal madrassas in his state and the implementation of NRC and CAA.

While insisting that there was "no ideological shift" when he parted ways with the Congress to join the BJP, the Assam Chief Minister stated that he had "wasted 22 years of my life in the Congress".

Sarma had triggered a controversy last month by commenting that Rahul Gandhi, with his newly grown beard "looks like Saddam Hussein." He also went on to say that it'd be better if Rahul Gandhi could appear more like Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi.

Questioning Rahul Gandhi’s selected visits to Gujarat ahead of the assembly elections, Sarma said, "He is invisible in Gujarat. He comes to the state as a visiting faculty... He also did not campaign in Himachal Pradesh. He is visiting only those places where there are no elections... Maybe because he is scared of defeat."

The Assam Chief Minister also alleged that the Congress must have paid Bollywood stars to join Rahul Gandhi`s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in an indirect reference to actors Pooja Bhatt and Amol Palekar who had joined the Yatra.

Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq and was believed to have orchestrated the Gulf War. The Iraqi dictator, who had ordered the military invasion of neighbouring countries like Iran and Kuwait, was later hanged to death after being found guilty of several crimes against humanity.