GUWAHATI, June 30: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora has condemned BJP president J.P Nadda for terming Congress members as “political tourists”, saying that such a denigrating remark was not expected from a senior leader.
Nadda had during his virtual address in the state BJP executive meeting held here on Tuesday, stated that “Congress and other Opposition parties are political tourists who are seen only during elections and they are in quarantine during the second wave of the pandemic.”
“Nadda should remember that the BJP was born in 1980 while the Congress was born in 1885. How can (the members of) a party that has been in existence for 136 years, that brought freedom for its people from British domination and that ruled India and contributed towards nation building be termed as “political tourists”? Bora asked.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the Assam PCC chief questioned how derogatory remarks could be made against Congress just because the party lost the elections in Assam.
“Does it also mean that wherever the BJP lost elections – in Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the party members have become ‘political tourists?” he asked.
Bora further questioned where the BJP leaders were when Assam was ravaged by the floods in 2017 and 2018.
“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi could make out time to come to Assam umpteen times for election campaigns, why couldn’t he find time to be near the people of the state during the floods?
He said the Congress was not answerable to the BJP president on what the party was doing during the COVID situation.
“People of the state know whether the Congress members in the various districts of Assam are with them or not. But the people of the state also know that they are suffering due to lack of vaccines because of the faulty COVID policy of the BJP government at the Centre,” Bora stated.
“Today 50 percent of the COVID vaccination centres have been shut in Assam. Very recently, police had to resort to lathicharge in some COVID vaccination centres as people became restive due to lack of vaccines,” he said.
The Assam PCC president “advised” Nadda that instead of discussing the Congress in his virtual meetings with party members, he should ensure the safety of the people of Assam from COVID by making vaccines available to them on time.