Congress on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of welcoming illegal immigrants to poll-bound Assam by enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which seeks to fast-track grant of citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
AICC general secretary and in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh Alwar released the chargesheet in Guwahati. It was almost similar to what BJP had released in 2015 ahead of Assembly elections in 2016, in which it made several charges against the Congress government. The BJP wrested power from the Congress and formed government in 2016
The Congress’ chargesheet alleged that the BJP had come to power in 2016 with a promise to protect jati-mati-bheti (community, land and hearth) of the indigenous Assamese but instead imposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on the people of Assam.
On the employment scene, the ‘chargesheet’ mentioned that the BJP has also failed in keeping their words to provide employment to the youth.
“The before the 2016 assembly elections, the BJP had promised to provide employment to the youth – a promise to employ five lakh unemployed in the state every year. Like other promises, the BJP failed to deliver on this promise too. There are around 3 lakh posts lying vacant in different departments at present and the number of unemployed in the state has reached 40 lakh. The central government has, in fact, stopped appointments in government offices, public sector undertakings and nationalized banks,” a point in the ‘chargesheet’ said.
The Congress party also raised the issue of appointment scams in the state.
“Instead of jobs, the young men and women of Assam have been regularly presented with appointment scams. There have been a series of recruitment scandals – in 2018, the scam in the appointment to 145 posts in the panchayat and rural development department and another related to 1000 posts in the same department. Then, the Assam police recruitment scam of huge proportions came to light, where senior serving and retired police officers were arrested. The rot has set in deep during the BJP’s tenure,” it said.
Regarding the perennial flood and erosion problem faced by Assam, Congress said PM Modi is finding time to visit poll-bound Assam to address election rallies but he never came when the state was reeling under floodwaters. In 2017, the then water resources minister Nitin Gadkari had promised Rs 233.45 crore to save Majuli, CM Sonowal’s own constituency, from erosion but the project is yet to be completed, the Congress ‘charge-sheet’ alleged.
While BJP’s vision document had promised the state’s farmers that they will get the minimum support price for paddy, the Congress accused the BJP government of hoodwinking the farmers too. “Only 1 percent of the total paddy produced was procured at that price. Farmers will soon have to protest on the roads for not getting proper prices. The Farm Acts passed by the BJP has left farmers across the country protesting against the unfair legislations,” it added.