Guwahati, (Samajweekly) The Congress-led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Assam on Monday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘migratory bird’ who visits the state occasionally, but fails to solve the basic problems and forgets to implement the poll promises.
Assam Pradesh Congress President Ripun Bora, accompanied by alliance leaders, said that Modi never came to Assam when the state and its people suffered a lot during the monsoon floods.
He said the Congress has put up some issues before the Prime Minister, but Modi purposefully remained silent on the basic issues – increasing daily wage of Rs 351 for tea garden workers, promise of two crore jobs per year, granting Scheduled Tribe status to six ethnic groups, revival of the two sick paper mills in Assam and abduction of two oil company officials by the terrorists.
“The people are agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and unprecedented price rise of essential commodities and fuel, but the Prime Minister deliberately avoided these issues,” the Congress leader told the media.
Leader of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Aminul Islam, said that either Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national President J.P. Nadda or other party leaders are coming to Assam every week after the formation of the Mahagathbandhan.
“Frequent visit of BJP’s central leaders, including the PM and the HM, prove that the ruling party is afraid of the Mahagathbandhan. The saffron party is certain that it is going to lose the ensuing elections,” the AIUDF leader said.
The state secretary of CPI-M, Deben Bhattacharjee, said the BJP-led government in Assam gave jobs to only 80,000 youth in the past five years against its promise of 25 lakh jobs for the unemployed educated youth in Assam.
The leaders of the other allies of the grand alliance said that the BJP government has been selling and leasing out Assam’s airport, railway stations, oil sector projects and even the Guwahati zoo to the private parties.
The six-party Mahagathbandhan reacted after the Prime Minister on Monday visited the poll-bound state for the third time in a month and dedicated to the nation a large number of projects in different parts of Assam.
The Congress had formed the Mahagathbandhan with three Left parties — CPI-M, CPI and CPI-MLL — as well as the AIUDF and the Anchalik Gana Morcha, two regional parties having a political base among the Muslims and indigenous people, respectively.
The Congress and the AIUDF had fought separately in 2016, and managed 26 and 13 seats, respectively.
The elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly are likely to be held in April-May this year.
