Congress mocks Modi's 'achche din' as hoax

Special correspondent

SILCHAR, Feb 17: In a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister rendra Modi, submitted through the Cachar DC S Viswathan here today, Silchar Town Mandal Committee of the Congress party, mocked the slogan of ‘achche din’ and called it a hoax. The visit of rendra Modi here as a part of his election campaign was recalled when he made commitment to change the tion.

His slogan ‘achche din anewale hain’ was recalled and he was reminded.

19 months have gone, the Congress leaders said the tall claims have fallen flat. The slogan appears illusive and with that the hardship of people is increasing. There has been no fundamental change to the life and living of ordiry people. On the other hand, the situation today has worsened. The performance of the NDA Government is felt badly in Assam in general and in Barak Valley in particular. The remotely located state in the northeast, Assam has always received special assistance from the successive Central Governments.

 Sadly enough, NDA Government has taken away this special category status for the state. The flow of central fund for as many as 12 including the flagship developmental programmes initiated by the UPA in critical areas of education, health and employment generation has been frozen. Even, the oil royalty has been cut down. These regressive fiscal steps from NDA have resulted in serious resource crunch for the state to carry out the development programmes for common people. Barak Valley in particular has sustained the worst kind of deprivation and neglect.

rendra Modi’s commitment to dismantle the detention camps once elected to power and granting of citizenship to the Hindu Bengalis was recalled. People continue to languish in detention camps. The Notification of September 7, 2015, has been without any legal backup. Sarbanda Sonowal, president of the state BJP and chief ministerial candidate for ensuing assembly elections, had promised to include Silchar under ‘Smart City Mission’ which has also turned out to be elusive. East-West Corridor has also remained in complete due to non-clearance from Ministry of Forest and Environment.

While acclaiming the completion of Silchar-Lumding BG, Congress finds lack of on board amenities and absence of long distance trains. Skyrocketing prices of all commodities reflect on the ineptitude and inefficiency of the NDA Government to control or contain it. The poll plank ‘sabka sath, sabka vikash’ has turned out as yet another gimmick. Cataloguing all the slogans and promises as an exercise to hoodwink the people, the memorandum rolls out the following charter of demands for speedy implementation.

A legislation should be introduced in the budget session on the Parliament to grant citizenship to the Hindu Bengalis, ongoing NRC update process be brought to its logical conclusion, rollback the withdrawal of special category status for Assam, enhance the oil royalty to the state and release central funds for the social sector development, reintroduce subsidized kerosene for the people. Besides, the demand has also been raised for environmental clearance to the stretch of East-West Corridor in Borail Hills, introduction of long distance trains and improvement of passenger amenities, setting up of a passport office here and immediate measures for modernization of Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram.

The memorandum was signed by members of Silchar Town Congress Committee. Before the submission of the memorandum, the Congress workers brought out a rally which after moving through the main thoroughfares of the town converged before the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Around 300 party workers carried play cards with slogan to hammer for the effective implementation of the various demands.