‘Actor’ Modi’s visit has benefited Congress: Assam CM
Guwahati: Coming to the defence of the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh , Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday dared Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs and the president of Assam state BJP unit Sarbananda Sonowal to come out with a White Paper on what the erstwhile BJP government in the Centre and the present government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi did for Assam instead of spreading canards against former PM Dr Manmohan Singh and the ruling Congress in Assam.
Gogoi said the Modi-led Government after failing to usher in much promisec ‘acche din’ was out to divert people’s attention by spreading false propaganda against the Congress Government in Assam. “Narendra Modi had promised galore to resolve the major issues confronting Assam during his Lok Sabha campaign. But after becoming the Prime Minister he has taken U-turns on issues like pushing back Bangladeshis, stopping rhino killings, lower Subansiri hydro-power dam, granting ST status to six ethnic communities, et al,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi asked Sonowal to explain that if PM Modi had so much of love, affection and concern for the people of the State, then the current BJP-led NDA government had deprived the State of the Special Category Status, put under suspension the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, changed the funding pattern of centrall-sponsored schemes and slashing funds from the Ministry of DoNER against NLCPR and NEC.
Gogoi said if PM Modi loved the people of Assam from the bottom of his heart then why he did not find time to take stock of their plight during the floods in 2014 and 2015.
“Not to speak of releasing funds sought by the State for rehabilitating the flood victims and huge infrastructure damage, the Centre did not release a single penny under the NDRF.
The SDRF funds released to Assam are the State’s dues and the Centre has not done any kind of favour by releasing the funds,” he said.
Gogoi said that the BJP-led Government has ignored the State’s proposal for Rs 1350 crore for establishment of Skill Development Centres in all 219 development blocks of the State.
Earlier, Gogoi claimed that Tuesday’s visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Assam would help the Congress in polls as Modi dashed hopes of the BKP and its ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) by failing to make any concrete announcement to facilitate all-encompassing development of the state.
Gogoi has termed Modi an accomplished ‘actor’ with great oratory skill but without any knowledge of ground realities and key issues of Assam as was reflected in his speeches delivered in Kokrajhar ad Guwahati on Tuesday.
“We have to salute Modi as a very good actor who can weave dream through his well-modulated speeches and but his lack of knowledge on key issues of Assam was well reflected in his speeches delivered here. It is a pity that the state BJP had failed to brief their leader properly before he addressed the rallies in the state,” Gogoi said.
Gogoi said though Modi dashed hopes of BJP’s new ally, BPF by not announcing the much expected Rs 1000 crore development package for Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Council (BTC) areas, the Congress government in Assam would provide Rs 1000 crore for uplift of all the ethnic communities in the state including Bodos.