HT Bureau

GUWAHATI, June 30: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has slammed BJP national president JP Nadda for his statement that Opposition parties in the state are ‘political tourists’, saying that such a comment is not expected from a senior leader like him.

Addressing the BJP’s state executive meeting virtually on Tuesday, Nadda said that the Congress and other Opposition parties are ‘political tourists’ who are seen only during elections and now they are in quarantine during the second wave of the pandemic.

“Congress party is not answerable to the BJP president on what the Congress party is doing during the Covid situation. People of the state know whether the Congress members in the various districts of Assam are with them or not,” APCC president and Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora said here in a statement on Wednesday.

Bora reminded Nadda that BJP was born in 1980 while Congress was born in 1885. “How can a party that has been in existence for 136 years, that brought freedom for its people from British domination and that ruled India and contributed towards nation building be termed as ‘political tourist’?,” Bora questioned.

Bora advised Nadda to brush up on his history. “Just because Congress lost elections in Assam one cannot pass derogatory remarks like ‘political tourists’ for the party,” he said.

“Does it also mean that wherever the BJP lost elections – in Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu that BJP has become ‘political tourists’,” Bora also questioned.

“Where were the BJP leaders when Assam was ravaged by the floods in 2017 and 2018? While PM Narendra Modi could make out time to come to Assam umpteenth times for election campaigns, why couldn’t he find time to be near the people of the state during the floods?” the Congress leader asked.

“The people of the state also know that it is due to the faulty Covid policy of the BJP government at the Centre led by PM Modi that the people of Assam are suffering due to lack of vaccines. Today 50% of the Covid vaccine centres have been shut down in Assam. Very recently police had to resort to lathicharge in Covid Centres as people became restive due to lack of vaccines,” added Bora.

Bora advised Nadda that instead of discussing the Congress party in his virtual meetings with his party members he should ensure the safety of the people of Assam from Covid by facilitating the quick  availability of vaccines as the longer the delay the greater is the threat to people’s lives.