GUWAHATI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the ruling BJP in Assam, alleging that the state is under “mafia and syndicate rule” and accusing the government of exploiting welfare schemes for political gain.
Addressing a rally at Tingkhong in Dibrugarh district, she called upon people to rise and save Assam, saying they were witnessing everything but not speaking up.
“…The government is betraying you. Everything you have is being taken away and given to large industrialists. There is one family looting your land and your industry…One person has become so corrupt that his family is looting everything. Corruption is spreading. Mafias and syndicates are being promoted,” Vadra alleged.
She further alleged that schools were being shut down, salaries were not being increased, and people had neither employment nor access to education and healthcare services.
“The tea gardens have made Assam famous worldwide. You have tea, minerals, oil, coal, land, natural beauty, tourism sites and history. You have everything, yet you don’t have anything today. Everything that you have been endowed with is being looted right in front of your eyes,” Vadra alleged.
She also targeted the BJP government over welfare schemes, including the flagship programme “Orunodoi”, under which women from economically disadvantaged families receive Rs 1,250 per month.
“You don’t become a beneficiary of a scheme in Assam free of cost. You are forced to attend BJP rallies and programmes or else your name will be deleted from the list of beneficiaries,” Vadra alleged, adding that everything in Assam is now being done through threats.
She appealed to people to elect a government that understands their problems and will work to solve them. “People know that our leader is honest. He understands the problems of the public and wants to serve them,” she said, referring to party’s Assam chief Gaurav Gogoi, who has been projected as the chief ministerial candidate by the Congress-led six-party Opposition alliance.
Meanwhile, reacting to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s charge that the Congress is doing politics over music icon Zubeen Garg’s death, Vadra said that promising efforts to ensure justice within 100 days did not amount to politicisation.
“When there is a demand among people that somebody, who they revered and respected, is not getting justice, then also as politicians, isn’t it our duty to say that yes, we are going to make every effort to give justice? How is that politicisation?” she asked.