SHILLONG: While canvassing for Manas Chaudhuri, the Congress candidate from South Shillong, at Last Stop here on Saturday, former Assam CM and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi told a huge public gathering that the Congress will form the next government in Meghalaya. “The credibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plunged drastically, the proof being the BJP’s recent electoral setback in Rajasthan. They are losing popularity all over the country. In Meghalaya, we are confident that the Congress will storm back to power,” he assured. Lauding the state unit of the Congress, Gogoi said development projects in the state were all launched by the Congress. He recalled the contributions of former chief ministers, notably the late Williamson Sangma and DD Lapang as well as the present Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. “It was not the BJP that initiated and completed the four lane project; it was former PM Manmohan Singh’s achievement. The IIM and Police Academy were all set up by the Congress. It was Rajiv Gandhi who had started the digital India drive,” the Congress leader said, adding that the Nehru-Gandhi family shares an intimacy with the state unlike other political parties and the Congress is more sensitive to the hopes and aspirations of the people. Gogoi asked the gathering at the rally: “Are you having acche din?” while pillorying the BJP-led government on demonetisation and GST.”GST has affected everybody. Now we have to pay more taxes and inflation has skyrocketed. Whatever the Modi government had promised, they have failed to implement. They have only made vapid promises,” he asserted. Slamming the BJP-led government of failing to create employment in Gujarat or elsewhere in the country, the Congress heavyweight questioned the veracity of the BJP’s promise of generating 2 crore jobs. “Where are the jobs they have created? Four years will soon be over since Narendra Modi came to power. He addresses the nation on mann ki baat, he does not talk of kaam ki baat. We want to see him delivering on the promises he made. The people want to see his actions, not listen to his speeches,” Gogoi said. “Modi talks about bringing black money back home and putting Rs 15 lakh in every bank account. But let me ask the people of Meghalaya: have you got even Rs 15 in the past four years?” he asked. Taking a dig at the PM’s pet Swacch Bharat programme, the former Assam CM asseverated that contrary to cleaning up the mess the saffron party was instead polluting the minds of people by creating hatred between communities and marginalising the minorities.
Referring to the PNB fraud and its kingpin Nirav Modi who was earlier seen with the PM, Gogoi railed that the rich and well-heeled are the real beneficiaries of BJP rule and not the common man, asserting that kharab din (bad days) have come for millions of middle-class citizens.
Lambasting the Gujarat model of development, the Congress leader argued that the tribal people of Meghalaya were far better off than their counterparts in other parts of the country. Criticising the BJP’s strategy of exploiting religious sentiments for purposes of political propaganda, Gogoi said Hindutva philosophy is creating fissures in the polity and walling off the minority communities from the mainstream.
In his address at the rally, South Shillong candidate and former minister Manas Chaudhuri said the time for change has come in his constituency. For the last five years, he maintained, the constituency has remained starved of development and the poor have suffered great hardships as a result.
Chaudhuri said he was often asked by the people of South Shillong about the utilisation – or rather the lack of it – of the Rs 2 crore MLA scheme by the sitting MLA Sanbor Shullai with most voters admitting that they are receiving crockery and utensils from Shullai ahead of the polls.
