Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his party will not implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and promised to hike the daily wage of tea plantation workers if his party comes to power in Assam.
Launching the Congress campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls at Sivasagar in eastern Assam, he also took a swipe at the BJP for trying to divide Assam so that “business tycoons from Gujarat” take its wealth away.
Mr. Gandhi recalled former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi as his guru who acquainted him with several key issues including the “divisive” CAA.
Pointing to the crossed CAA printed on the Assamese “gamosa” around his neck, he said: “Listen, ‘hum do hamaare do’! Come what may, we will not allow the CAA.”
Mr. Gandhi had coined ‘hum do’ for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and ‘hamaare do’ for corporate giants Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
Deciding factor
He devoted much of his speech to the tea workers, who are a deciding factor in a third of the 126 Assembly seats. He said their daily wage would be more than doubled.
“What can you buy with ₹167? We will add ₹200 to this figure and take away ₹2 to fix ₹365 as your daily wage,” he told the crowd mostly comprising tea workers at the rally near a historic field where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned for the BJP a few days ago.
The focus of the political parties has been on the workers. The BJP-led government has wooed them with cash and incentive schemes besides promising to hike their wages within a few days.
Mr. Gandhi also promised to protect the principles of the Assam Accord signed between the All Assam Students’ Union and the Centre in 1985 at the end of a violent six-year agitation against illegal immigration.
“Assam has the issue of illegal immigration but the people of the State have the capability to resolve them through dialogue. The Congress will defend and protect the principles of the accord,” he said, referring to the delay in implementing a vital clause that guarantees constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people.
Mr. Gandhi came down on the BJP and their crony capitalists for strangling the economy.
“The Modi government destroyed the economy with demonetisation and then with GST [Goods and Services Tax]. Corona virus gave it an opportunity to enrich ‘hum do, hamaare do’ at the cost of small businesses,” he said.
He cautioned the people against Mr. Modi and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who “are not friends of Assam but of Nagpur and Gujarat. “They do what Nagpur and Gujarat businessmen tell them to do, primarily to keep the people of Assam divided so that businessmen from Gujarat get the State’s wealth, including the tea gardens,” he said.
Nagpuria ideology
Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi had earlier said the Assembly polls would be a fight between ‘Nagpuria’ ideology (allusion to the RSS) and the Assamese identity.
The Congress would be contesting the polls in alliance with the minority-based All India United Democratic Front and four other parties. Two new regional parties — Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal — have also tied up to take on the BJP-led alliance.