AICC Assam In-charge Harish Rawat Accuses Delhi, Assam Government For Embezzlement

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Aug 31: In his renewed attack on the BJP governments at the Centre and in the State, AICC Assam in-charge Harish Rawat was focused on Friday – right from Rafale fighter deal to under-utilization of MSME funds in Assam.

With a view to bringing the failure on the part of the Central Government on the Rafale fighter deal into focus, APCC (Assam Pradesh Congress Committee) in-charge Rawat has launched a duplicate French Rafale fighter at Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati in front of APCC president Ripun Bora, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia and other leaders of the party. The programme was part of the APCC’s ‘BJP Sorkar Hisab Diyok, Uttor Diyok’ campaign.

Briefing newsmen later, Rawat said: “Rafale deal, the biggest-ever defense scam, is a total failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not of his government. It’s he who clinched the deal singularly. Modi’s four years and a half and Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal’s over two years are out-and-out failure. All assurances given by Modi – depositing Rs 15 lakh in the account of every Indian, creating two crore jobs yearly, doubling MSP, checking price rise, bringing back black money to the nation, etc have been proved false. The Swiss banks have said that deposits from India have been up during the BJP rule in India. The price of an LPG cylinder was Rs 375 in March 2014. It has gone up to Rs 800-850 now, varying from State to State. Oil prices are also higher in India than other countries. Modi has given the ‘Ashtolakshmi’ status to the north-eastern states, but opted to strip the region of ‘special status’ given to it by Dr. Manmohan Singh. The swelling of the assets of BJP’s national president Amit Shah’s son from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80,000 crore has scripted a record in financial history in India.”

Lashing out at Sonowal, Rawat said: “Toeing Modi’s line the Assam Chief Minister’s over two-year rule exposes a trail of failure. ST status to the six ethnic groups as promised has not been given as yet. The condition of the national highways in the State, especially in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, is pathetic. One can’t distinguish if they’re national highways or village highways. Rs 200 crore MSME fund could not be spent last year. The Centre has allocated Rs 800-crore MSME funds this year. Under this government, there has been a sudden spurt in cases registered against atrocities on women. The government has utterly failed in providing jobs to jobless. Free of cost textbooks for students are yet to be a reality. While Dispur has not been able to fill up 49,000 vacant posts, the Centre is yet to fill up 40 lakh vacancies. Instead of solving problems, the State Government has taken the decision to hike the salaries of chairmen of boards and corporations up to Rs 50,000 per month.”

Rawat said that the Congress is going to submit a memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission with suggestions that may solve problems afflicting Assam. The APCC has already formed a team led by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to draft the memorandum.