TINSUKIA: Union Minister J P Nadda on Monday accused the Congress of treating the tea tribes as a "vote-bank" that it "harvested" every five years while not working for their welfare.
Tea Tribes in Assam are the descendants of the labourers brought to the region during the colonial period from the present-day Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar tribal belts in the nineteenth century.
Addressing a rally in support of the BJP's Doomdooma candidate Rupesh Gowala, the former party chief also claimed the Congress had rolled out the red carpet for infiltrators during its rule in this northeastern state.
"The Congress treated the tea tribes as a vote bank to be harvested every five years. It pushed the future of the community into darkness," he said.
The former BJP national president alleged that the Congress "invited infiltrators into Assam, and sheltered them here, providing them with Aadhaar and Ayushman Bharat cards for appeasement politics".
"These people are grabbing the land of the Adivasis and the poor," Nadda said while asserting that the BJP would take back this land and drive the illegal immigrants out.
"Their names are being deleted from the voter list, and those remaining will also be struck off," he added.
Nadda lauded the tea tribes, a majority in this eastern Assam constituency, for their "stance against infiltrators".
"I salute the people of the tea tribes for not allowing the infiltrators to settle here, thereby saving the future of Bharat Mata," he said.
The Union minister also hit out at the Congress for the "violence, killings, strikes, unrest and curfew" during its tenures in the state.
He maintained that it was the BJP-led government that had ensured peace, stability and development in Assam in the past decade.
Listing various welfare initiatives being undertaken in the state, Nadda promised the BJP-led NDA would expand these measures once it returns to power.
The Union health minister urged the people to vote for the BJP-led-NDA in the April 9 elections.