BJP has no right to criticize Congress: APCC

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 22: Reacting to BJP’s scathing attack of the Congress in the aftermath of Prime Minister rendra Modi’s visit to the State, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has said that the BJP has no right to criticize the Congress. “It’s not the Congress, but the BJP that has deceived the people of Assam,” the APCC said.

In a statement issued to the press today, the APCC said: “The activities of the rendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre is being watched by the people of Assam for around two years. When the Congress came to power in 2001, the State exchequer was empty. In the past 15 years, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been able to make the State stride on all fronts. Development works of the Congress government at Dispur and the people’s trust on it have let the party make it to Dispur for three consecutive terms. However, the  people of Assam have witnessed the deception to Assam by the NDA government at the Centre in the past one year and nine months. They did promise to deport all Bangladeshis from the State. How many Bangladeshis have they sent back to Bangladesh? They did oppose the India-Bangladesh Land Swath Deal, but they did a U-turn after coming to power. This is not all. They have deceived Assam by stripping it of special state status. During the campaign in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi did term the Northeast as ‘Oshtalakshmi’ and a prospective ‘economic zone’, but soon after coming to power, the he has withdrawn the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP), 2007, besides cutting a huge amount of Central funds to Assam. How come a Prime Minister who could not make time to visit Assam when the State had been reeling under floods can make time to visit the State twice within a span of 20 days? How come the same Prime Minister who didn’t announce any package for flood-affected Assam announced fat packages for Tamil du and Jammu & Kashmir for the similar calamities?”

Reacting to State BJP president Sarbanda Sonowal’s statement that the Rs 1,000-crore package for Barak Valley Rs 100-crore for Dhemaji that had been announced by the Chief Minister failed to see light of the day, the APCC said: “The Union minister can get information on the two packages if he asks the respective deputy commissioners. His outbursts on CAG reports stating that Dispur is yet to give reports of Rs 12,000 crore have proved that Sonowal is ignorant of fincial and administrative rules. This shows that the BJP is out to throw poor light on the Congress only to hush-up its own failure.”