All India Congress Committee General Secretary addresses press meet in Jorhat

A CORRESPONDENT 

JORHAT: All India Congress Committee General Secretary Divya Maderna took the BJP-led Assam Government to task, saying that it had failed on all fronts of economic growth, health, the tea sector, law and order, the annual floods, and justice to Zubeen Garg.

Addressing a press meet at the Jorhat Congress Bhawan on Friday, Maderna took up each issue, stating that while the state government indulged in gimmickry and put up posters, banners and published ads in newspapers proclaiming rosy stories, the ground reality was a far cry from the blatant lies and boasts.

“In the name of good governance, it is a zero, in the name of development, it is dividing society, in economic growth, the only thing that has grown is in the affidavit of the chief minister - a huge growth of more than 600 percent in his wife’s assets. Even the Sensex does not show this kind of growth,” she said.

To add to this, she said that PM Narendra Modi came and danced Jhumair with the tea garden workers in Dibrugarh, but did nothing to alleviate the severe health crisis among the female workers, 68 percent of whom, along with the children, were anaemic. 

“Just dancing will not alleviate the condition of these women workers, who are the backbone of the tea industry,” she added.

Maderna further said that the BJP had failed in fulfilling its promise of increasing the wages of tea workers. She further asked whether any policy had been taken up for the small tea growers so that they got a minimum price for their green leaf.

The AICC general secretary lambasted the State Government for the poor economic condition, stating that the Niti Aayog had placed Assam in the 23rd position among 28 states. She claimed that when a child is born in Assam, he is born with a debt burden of Rs 57,000 because the state is mired in debt to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees.

Maderna, who is a former Rajasthan MLA, said that while Bihar gets a package of Rs 3000 crore from the Centre to tackle floods, Assam gets less than Rs 300, though the problem here was equal if not more.

Speaking about the health sector, she said that in Assam, the maternal mortality rate of 117 was way above the national maternal mortality rate, which was only 88.

To a specific query as to whether Congress was doing politics with Zubeen Garg, she replied, “If this government had given him justice, we would not have had to raise this issue in the first place.”

Also Read: Congress Manifesto Has Clear Timelines, BJP's Is 'Copy-Paste': Pawan Khera in Assam