BJP: Land deal is Gogoi's betrayal to Assam

‘If signing such an important deal without taking the people of Assam into confidence is not betrayal to the people of the State, what else is?’ - BJP spokesperson

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, May 2: Prime Minister rendra Modi could feel the pulse of the people of Assam on the India-Bangladesh Land Swap Deal right, and took the right decision to exclude Assam from the deal, said Assam BJP spokesperson Hitendra th Goswami today.

Goswami said the Congress in Assam is out to do politics on the exclusion of Assam from the land swap deal as the party has its eyes set on Bangladeshi votes. “It seems that the first priority of the Congress is to woo Bangladesh and Bangladeshi voters in Assam, and the interests of the indigenous people of the State comes next,” Goswami said, and rued: “Before signing the India-Bangladesh Land Swap Deal along with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should have taken the opinion of the people of Assam on that matter. Gogoi should have talked to the leaders of the opposition parties, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and other organizations of the State. If signing such an important deal without taking the people of Assam into confidence is not betrayal to the people of the State, what else is?”

Goswami said: “The Chief Minister and the then Prime Minister had promised Bangladesh to hand it over 499 acres Assam land under the occupation of the neighbouring country. Present Prime Minister rendra Modi could have settled with Bangladesh not to hand over 236 acres of the 499 acres to the neighbouring country. He, however, refrained from doing so only to respect the pulses of the people of Assam on this sentimental issue. What Modiji did on the India-Bangladesh land deal shows his responsibility and maturity as a successing Prime Minister to an intertiol agreement signed by his predecessor.”

Goswami said: “All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi, however, is bent on implementing the India-Bangladesh Land Swap Deal without bringing any changes to it, and she is backed by the Chief Minister of Assam keeping the interests of the people of his state aside. This is unfortute. Such a move of the Congress makes it crystal clear that it has more concern for Bangladesh and Bangladeshis staying illegally in Assam, not for the indigenous people of the state.”