Assam senior citizens refute PM’s electrification claims

Senior citizens in Assam have taken to Facebook to seek electricity for some villages in the State, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed via Twitter that the BJP-led NDA government has achieved complete rural electrification in the country.

Harendra Chandra Das, a retired teacher of Peragaon in western Assam’s Barpeta district, posted a letter addressed to State BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, on his Facebook page late on Monday.

“You may recall visiting our village of 12 families and 46 voters before the [2016] Assembly election. We told you we have everything except electricity, and you called up a contractor for connecting our village to the grid beyond,” Mr. Das said.

“Sometime ago, I bought 800 metres of wire to get electricity from the constituency of your neighbouring MLA, but the other villagers are not as resourceful as I am,” the retired teacher said.

Peragaon, in Barpeta Assembly constituency represented by the State BJP chief, borders the Bijni constituency that is represented by Kamal Singh Narzary of Bodoland People’s Front (BPF). The BJP and BPF are ruling allies in Assam.

Mr. Dass could not be contacted, but one of his aides said he has taken note of the teacher’s Facebook reminder. “We will act on it after assessing the situation on the ground,” the aide said.

Monday also saw another senior citizen carrying out a hunger strike to draw attention to the lack of basic amenities, including electricity, in central Assam’s Dima Hasao district.

Bahim Chandra Langthasa, the founder of Jadikhe Naiso Hasam, an apex organisation of the Dimasa community, called off his fast in the evening after local authorities assured to bail the district’s Langtingdibu area out of isolation.