GUWAHATI: BJP national president Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on
Congress accusing it of almost giving away Assam to Bangladesh during Partition and deserting the state when the
Chinese invaded Arunachal Pradesh in 1962 as he kicked off the campaign for
2019 LS polls from Assam with a call to party workers of the state unit to ensure victory in 21 of the 25 Lok
Sabha seats in the region and Sikkim.
Shah, while addressing presidents of 25,000 booth committees of the party of the state here on Saturday ahead of the panchayat election two months later, also lambasted Congress for stalling proceedings of parliament by creating ruckus.
“When Partition was happening, Congress had clubbed whole of Assam in Group C. Had Gopinath Bordoloi (first chief minister of Assam in independent India), and Gandhiji had not opposed it, Assam would not have been a part of India. When China attacked, Nehru said bye bye Assam…why…so many of our jawans sacrificed their lives.”
Drawing a contrast, Shah said what Prime Minister Modi did at Doklam has been of an example of highest order. “After Modi ji’s stand on Doklam, no country can dare to eye our borders,” Shah said.
Taking the war of words into the parliament, Shah said that Congress is deliberately disrupting the proceedings inside the houses to avoid discussions on government’s plans for farmers of the country.
“Our farmers since Independence have been complaining of not getting the right price for their produce. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a historic decision to fix fix remunerative support price for the agricultural produce that will now be 1.5 times more than what the farmer has spent to produce the products. This will be discussed in parliament and Congress is scared that if the Parliament is allowed to function normally, people will come to know about the good work of BJP,” Shah said.
“It will be better if Rahul ji allows the Parliament to run in the interest of the nation. Non-functioning of the Parliament has caused huge loss to the national exchequer. The BJP is quite capable of highlighting the achievements of its government before the people as it is the party with largest mass base in the country,” Shah added.
He said that the northeast has lagged behind than the rest of the country because of indifferent and negligent attitude of Congress governments. “The people of northeast have realized the BJP and Modi’s sincerity towards fast tracking the development process in the region and for this reason BJP is in power in six of the seven states in the region.
He pointed out that during the UPA government, Assam under 13th Finance Commission got only Rs 79,741 crore but the the 14th commission under NDA regime has awarded Rs 1,55,292 crore to Assam.
He called upon the party workers of Assam to fan out to the rest of the region to ‘safronise’ every nook and corner of the region in the region as the party has its biggest strength in the region among the solid base of party workers and office bearers in Assam.
“In 2010, we won just 5 of the 25 seats in northeast. In 2014 we won eight. Today I am giving a target to all our workers—ensure our victory in 21 of the 25 seats,” Shah said.
Buoyed by the spectacular victory in Tripura assembly election, where the party’s Assam unit played the game changing role by reaching out every nook and corner of Tripura, Shah said, “It is the responsibility of the Assam unit to ensure that BJP’s footprints spread further in the northeast in the Lok Sabha polls. They should take along our allies, respect them and strengthen NDA’s presence in the region.”
Thousands of BJP workers from Assam worked overtime in Tripura, particularly Bodo tribal workers who campaigned in the crucial tribal belt seats of Tripura. Many in Assam unit believe the victory in Tripura as its second victory after the victory in Assam two years back.
Shah will be meeting party MPs and MLAs later during the day. He will also hold a meeting with the state officer bearers, morcha presidents, spokespersons, districts presidents here.
