Amit Shah today attacked the Congress for joining forces with Badruddin Ajmal.
Borduwa:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked the Congress for joining forces with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF in Assam because of its “lust for power”, and alleged that successive governments of the party did nothing to rid the state of violence and infiltration.
The Congress’ “greed” to capture power in the state will remain unfulfilled and the BJP along with its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which symbolises Assamese identity, will win the assembly polls with a two-thirds majority, Mr Shah told a public rally at Borduwa, the birthplace of Srimanta Sankardeva, the 15-16th century saint, scholar and religious reformer, in Nagaon district.
“The Congress talks about providing security when it is joining hands with Ajmal. It’s ony because of its lust for power that it has joined hands with Ajmal.
“The party did nothing to free Assam from violence and infiltration despite having a prime minister who was elected from the state,” he said, referring to Manmohan Singh who is a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.
Lok Sabha MP Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) wields considerable influence among Bengali speaking Assamese Muslims who constitute a sizeable chunk of the electorate.
Enumerating various schemes that the Modi government has launched for Assam, Mr Shah said people will weigh the measures undertaken by it in seven years against those by the
Congress over 70 years in the upcoming polls.
Mr Shah also accused the parties that were formed in the aftermath of the anti-CAA protests of “helping the Congress which used bullets to suppress the Assam agitation against foreigners”.
He said these parties were formed so they could chip away at BJP’s votes and help the Congress but they will not succeed.
Congress leaders are sighted in the state only during elections and after it’s over they get busy making rounds of the corridors of power in New Delhi to fulfil their vested interests, he alleged.
“Prime Minister Modi will never turn his back on Assam and the North East, and will go to any extent to make the region a growth engine of the country,”he said.
The Congress, which is now talking about restoring Assamese pride, did nothing to protect the one-horned rhinoceros that is linked to Assamese identity, Mr Shah said.
He said Modi wanted to rid the state of recurrent floods that cause large-scale disruption and displacement every year.
“With the help of satellite imagery, places will be identified to divert water to create ponds. I appeal to the people of Assam to once again install a BJP government and I assure that in the next five years we will free the state from the annual floods,” he said.
“It is with this intention that Modi visited different states of the North East at least 35 times during the last five years,” Mr Shah said.
“The prime minister wants to take the region forward on the path of progress and make it free from corruption, violence and infiltration,” he said
Recalling the contributions of eminent personalities of Nagaon, Mr Shah said, it was the land of Assam’s first chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi who played a crucial role in ensuring the state remained a part of the country, of international athlete Hima Das and popular singer Papon, besides a host of freedom fighters.
Mr Shah reminded the people that it was the BJP government which conferred Bharat Ratna on Assamm’s iconic singer-poet Bhupen Hazarika and Padma Bhushan on Congress chief minister the late Tarun Gogoi for their valuable contributions to the state.
The home minister visited Batadrava Than, the vaishnavite monastery associated with Sankardeva where he formally launched the government’s beautification initiative.
Praising Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for providing an aid of Rs 2.5 lakh each to 8,000 ”namghars” (Vaishnavite prayer halls), Mr Shah suggested that they should extend the benefit to 17,000 more such facilities during the remaining days of their current term in office.
Mr Shah had, during an earlier visit to Guwahati on December 26 last year, remotely laid the foundation stone for the development and beautification of Batadrava Than at Borduwa, the birth place Sankardeva, at an estimated cost of Rs 188 crore.