Opposition parties pan Assam govt for ‘going back’ on poll promises

Guwahati: The BJP-led coalition has gone back on all its major poll promises since forming government for the second consecutive term in Assam, the Opposition Congress-led ‘grand alliance’ alleged on Saturday.

Instead of finding ways to mitigate problems in the state, the BJP is busy in “polarising” people along religious lines, leaders of the alliance claimed at a joint press conference.

“The government has failed to deliver on all its promises, be it waiving loans from microfinance institutions or increasing daily wage of tea garden workers… We cannot be blind to what they are actually doing,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora said.

The Rajya Sama MP also said the BJP-led coalition did not enjoy a thumping victory over the Opposition, as the difference of the share of votes between it and other parties was “less than 1 per cent”.

Slamming the BJP-led central government for the continuing rise in fuel prices, Bora said in 150 cities, per- litre cost of petrol was more than Rs 100.

“This is happening as the BJP doesn’t have any source of revenue generation. Hence, it is putting the entire burden on the people and increasing the excise duty,” he said, claiming that Rs 22 lakh crore was generated through excise duty in the last seven years of the union government.

All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) leader Aminul Islam condemned a recent statement of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about population growth, alleging that it was politically motivated.

Sarma had urged the minority community to adopt a “decent family planning policy” for population control to reduce poverty.

Islam also criticised his proposal of excluding Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Tea Tribes from a population policy.

“This is not based on any data that these communities have not contributed to population growth, or that the other communities have,” he said.

CPI(M) state general secretary Deben Bhattacharyya pointed to the “religious polarisation tactics” of the state government, citing the “eviction” of Muslim community people in different parts.

“This is being done to deviate people from the real issues like inflation and development,” he said.

CPI state general secretary Munin Mahanta questioned the government’s failure to conduct the Class 10 and 12 board examinations.

“Kerala and Assam had elections together. Kerala managed to smoothly conduct the examinations, but our government could not do it,” he said.