“We have freed Assam from agitation and protest,” Amit Shah said. (File)
Guwahati:
As Assam got ready for the crucial second phase of assembly polls for 39 seats on Wednesday, both Congress and the BJP were busy campaigning for the next phase. Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said they would not allow Assam to become a hub for infiltrators again, especially after the BJP freed the land from encroachment.
Addressing a poll rally at Bijni for party candidate Ajay Roy, Mr Shah criticised the Congress for doing nothing during its 15-year rule in Assam.
“In Congress-ruled in Assam, men were killed. Now, the same Congress is piggybacking on AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal to come to power. What has the Congress given in its 15 years? In the last five years, we have successfully curbed violence. We have freed Assam from agitation and protest,” Mr Shah said.
“Former Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi had dismissed Ajmal. But now Rahul Gandhi says that the AIUDF is ‘Assam’s identity’. We will not allow this at any cost,” Mr Shah said.
“Five years ago, I as the party president, had come to you and promised to make Assam free from violence and agitation and ensure development,” the Union minister said. “We have fulfilled our promises. Give us another five years and we will make the state infiltrator-free and flood-free,” he said.
The state government, he added, has already freed the Kaziranga National park from illegal encroachment.
Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, who was also campaigning in the state on Wednesday, said the party would not allow the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act if it comes to power.
Addressing a poll rally at Pritipur ground in Chaygaon, Mr Gandhi said, “CAA is an attack on the language, history and culture of Assam”.
“When I came to meet the family of Dipanjal Das (killed in Guwahati during the anti-CAA protests in 2019) I felt that bullets were not fired at one man. It was fired at the entire Assam,” he added.