Rangia (Assam), Mar 28: Union Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on Saturday alleged that the Congress followed an “infiltration model” to create a vote bank and remain in power.
Addressing an election rally here in support of former state BJP president Bhabesh Kalita, the Union minister accused the Congress of “handing over” Assam to infiltrators.
“When the Congress was in power, Assam’s ‘jal’ (water), ‘jungle’ (forest) and ‘zameen’ (land) were handed over to infiltrators, who occupied several lakh bighas of land. Anyone who wanted to come could just enter as if the state was a ‘dharamshala’ (guest house). This is our land… Why should people from other countries come and settle here?” he said.
He alleged that the Congress used infiltrators as a vote bank by providing them with Aadhaar cards and entering their names in the voter list.
“This was a sin. The Congress followed the model of infiltration, but the BJP’s model is to follow the ideals of Srimanta Sankardeva and work for the welfare of the people,” Chouhan said.
He alleged that when students in Assam launched an agitation against foreigners in 1979, the then Congress government opened fire on the agitators.
“Even during Independence, Congress was planning to hand over Assam to Pakistan and make it a part of present-day Bangladesh,” he alleged, adding, “I bow in reverence to the state’s first chief minister, Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, who prevented this from happening.”
“The Congress again betrayed Assam during the 1962 India-China war when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said he could do nothing for the people of the state and washed his hands off,” the Union minister alleged.
Chouhan also accused the Congress of insulting great personalities of the state.
“They did not give Bharat Ratna to Gopinath Bordoloi or to eminent singer Bhupen Hazarika, and it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who gave them the highest honour,” he added.
The BJP leader also claimed that the Congress lacks competent leaders, and they have never practised democracy.
“It is a party that promotes dynastic politics, with the chief minister’s son following in his father’s footsteps,” Chouhan said in an apparent reference to state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, who is the son of former CM Tarun Gogoi.
He thanked the PM and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for ensuring the state’s rapid development.
Chouhan also alleged that the Congress never put even one rupee into the bank accounts of women.
”The Assam chief minister started the ‘Orunodoi’ scheme to provide a monthly aid to women. I followed this model in Madhya Pradesh and started the ‘Laadli’ scheme,” he said.
Chouhan, the rural development minister, said that if the BJP returns to power in Assam, the number of ‘Lakhpati Baideos’ of self-help groups will increase to six crore from the current three crore in the state.
“We will not let women remain poor… We are not doing them any favour but ensuring social justice,” he said.
“It is our pledge that no poor will live in kutcha houses; they will get pucca ones under the PM Awas Yojana,” he said.
The Congress did not grant land ownership rights to the tea garden workers, but the PM and CM gave them land rights, he said.
“We will now give them houses under the PMAY,” Chouhan added.
The Union minister said that during the Congress rule, there was widespread unemployment and the lack of entrepreneurial opportunities, which led to many youths taking up arms.
“There was a time in Assam when people could not venture out at night, but now a new era has dawned with youths getting ample employment opportunities,” Chouhan claimed.
The Assam chief minister has ensured government jobs to over 1.65 lakh youths in the last five years and this process will continue, he added.
