SHILLONG: Allegations are flying thick and fast in the politically surcharged atmosphere in the state ahead of the Assembly polls. AICC spokesperson and MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi has taken a dig at the National People’s Party by calling it a “Trojan horse” for the RSS, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath.
Addressing a press conference in the city on Wednesday, Gogoi alleged that the saffron party is trying to penetrate into Meghalaya through the backdoor by taking help from regional parties while maintaining that voting for the NPP amounts to voting for the BJP.
Castigating NPP president Conrad Sangma over his inability to secure a visa for a church leader, Gogoi said, “Conrad Sangma could not even get visas for church leaders. His promise of building highways and roads in the state is empty rhetoric.”
Attacking the BJP over attacks on pastors in Madhya Pradesh and the decisions to observe Digital India Day on Good Friday and Good Governance Day on Christmas, he said that the BJP in future may even start observing Deen Dayal and RSS days.
“The RSS was set up in opposition to different religions,” he told reporters, alleging that the government in New Delhi is for the RSS, by the RSS and of the RSS.
According to Gogoi, Congressmen are working at the grassroots and the decline of the BJP in the North-East will begin from Meghalaya.
Stating that Meghalaya stands next to Assam so far as job creation is concerned, he further alleged that the BJP government was appointing vice-chancellors of universities on the basis of their political affiliations and sympathies and not merit. Besides, governors are being chosen only if they have RSS training, he said.
Gogoi said that the BJP has not fulfilled the promises made in 2014 and, therefore, there was no point in releasing its vision document on Thursday ahead of polls in the state.
Gogoi further cornered the BJP over the latter’s claim of creating 1.68 crore jobs through the MUDRA scheme saying the average size of a MUDRA loan is Rs 43,000 and it was impossible to create even one job with that amount.
Slamming the Centre over its start-up policy, he said that out of 33,000 start-ups in the country, only 74 have been approved for availing tax benefits while alleging that the country’s unemployment rate has risen to a 5-year high of 5 per cent in 2015-16.
On the other hand, MPCC working president Vincent Pala said the Congress may not need to form an alliance with any party to form a government in Meghalaya, adding that a Manipur-like situation will not arise in Meghalaya. The BJP formed the government in Manipur although the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in that state. The BJP had won 14 to 16 seats in Manipur. “But it will not win a single seat in Meghalaya. Therefore, the situation in Meghalaya will be totally different,” Pala said.
