About acchee din and kharaab din...!

Gogoi tends to forget that he ruled Assam for 15 years, while the BJP has been in power at the Centre for eight months only

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, January 21: Adopting a combative mode, the Assam Congress today sought to take the 2016 Assembly electoral battle down to the voters of the State early publishing a handbook on the BJP government’s ‘U–turn’ on numerous pre–poll commitments.

Unveiling the handbook, which will be distributed through the 24,280 booth committees of the party, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, “It is a document of the failure of the rendra Modi government. The promised ‘acchee din’ never came. In fact, I can see ‘kharaab din’ in future.”

Alleging that the Modi government has failed to keep its pre–poll promises made to the people of Assam, Gogoi came down on the BJP’s U–Turns citing the Central government’s support to the land swap deal with Bangladesh and Lower Subansiri Hydel Power Project.

He also criticized Modi for “failing” to keep his promise that Assam will be free of all illegal foreigners from May 17 last year, if the BJP came to power. “Now, the BJP is not talking on the foreigners’ issue. They see the presence of foreigners only when they are in the Opposition,” Gogoi said.

Gogoi said when it was in Opposition, the BJP has opposed many policies of the UPA government. “And after coming to power, they are more enthusiastic in implementing those. We don’t have double standards like the BJP,” Gogoi said.

 “The BJP government has not done anything for the State…they have cut allocation of Central schemes by Rs 3000 crore, suspended the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy and stopped new recruitments, among others,” the CM added.

He referred to the proposed ‘Make in Northeast’ initiative by DoNER minister Dr Jitendra Singh and questioned its feasibility when incentives to the region in the face of NEIIP has been suspended.

“When Sarbanda Sonowal was the skill development minister, he had said that the State was not sending new scheme proposals. Now when we have sent them, the Centre is sitting silent,” Gogoi said.

Gogoi said his government is drafting a new Land Acquisition Bill for the State as he would not implement the Central Act that was recently amended through an Ordince.

"We are preparing a new Land Acquisition Bill. I said it earlier also and today I am again saying that we are not going to implement the Act amended by the Centre," he said, adding that he would oppose all central schemes which are “harmful” for the State.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Anjan Dutta, accusing the Modi government of doing a U–turn on all issues, said, “There is no Modi wave blowing. The so–called Modi–tsumi is leaving a trail of destruction as all tsumis bring only havoc.”

He said the handbook was an attempt of the Congress to make the people aware how their trust on the BJP has been betrayed.

The Congress will be seeking a fourth straight tenure at the next Assembly elections, an uphill task for the party at the current moment, given its drubbing in last Lok Sabha elections and rise of BJP and AIUDF at its expense.

The Congress will bring out similar booklets every three/four months to highlight the “betrayal” of the BJP.

The Chief Minister further said that a white paper will also be brought out on “what the State got during the UPA regime and during the eight months of BJP government.”