Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia slams BJP for poor promise delivery

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Upon the completion of four years of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Assam, Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia on Sunday slammed the government and the party regarding their 'promises and delivery'.

Saikia said that the BJP-led government has failed to fulfil its promises which they made during the 2014 elections. "The party has not successfully kept the promises which they made in their election manifesto and also the vision documents. The party came to power under the slogan jati, mati and bheti (community, land and base) and said the State will be free from illegal immigrants. But instead they brought the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and opened its doors to the immigrants," said Saikia.

Further, the Opposition leader said, "The BJP said that within six months of the formation of their government, they would grant ST status to six ethnic communities – Tai Ahom, Mising, Moran, Motak, Tea Tribes, and Koch Rajbongshi. But none of the communities was granted the ST status. The government didn't solve the problems of Brahamaputra erosion and also it failed to hike the tea labourers' daily wage to Rs 350. Meanwhile, the condition of the paper mill workers are deteriorating as the government is not reviving Nagaon Paper Mill and Cachar Paper Mill." Saikia underlined that the party promised to provide employment to 25 lakh unemployed youths, but only could engage 1 lakh of them. In the name of Advantage Assam, the government spent crores of rupees to increase the trade and other relations with other countries but not a single industry was set up in the State, he said.

Even the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was a failure and ultimately the government and the party had to dismiss it, he asserted. "The government has one more year left in its tenure. Thus, I appeal to the government to fulfil their promises in the remaining period," added Saikia.