Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi traded sharp political barbs on Saturday, with both sides accusing each other of neglecting Assam and the Northeast and failing to deliver on development, as the prime minister began a two-day visit to the state ahead of elections due in less than six months.
Hours after Modi criticised the Congress for allegedly ignoring Assam and the Northeast during its decades in power, Gogoi hit back, claiming that the prime minister’s report card in the region was “extremely poor” across sectors.
Gogoi, who is also the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, alleged that public sector undertakings in Assam have been shutting down one after another during the present government’s regime.
“Modi’s report card as PM is extremely poor in almost every sector in Assam and the Northeast, including industrial development, addressing unemployment issues and generation of employment,” Gogoi told reporters.
He claimed that over the past 11 years, public sector undertakings in Assam have been shut down one after another.
Referring to the semiconductor project at Jagiroad, Gogoi said that although the BJP has been “beating drums” over the project, it has been set up only after shutting down a paper mill.
“Real industrial development would have taken place had the paper mill continued and the new project been set up at another location,” he said.
The upcoming Tata Electronics Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility, with an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, is expected to produce up to 48 million semiconductor chips per day, employing advanced packaging technologies like flip chip and Integrated System in Package.
Modi, who reached Assam from West Bengal after addressing a rally there, inaugurated the new terminal of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati, developed at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore by Guwahati International Airport Ltd, a group firm of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd.
Addressing a public meeting after the inauguration, the prime minister alleged that the development of Assam and the Northeast was never part of the Congress’s agenda.
“The Congress gave protection to infiltrators who grabbed forests and land, threatening the security and identity of Assam... The BJP government has been correcting mistakes the Congress kept making for decades in the Northeast,” Modi claimed.
Alleging that the Congress neglected the region for decades, he asserted that the BJP-led government was correcting those “mistakes”.
Modi said the Election Commission had started the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls to ensure infiltrators are kept out of the poll process, but “deshdrohis” were trying to protect them.
“The Centre is taking strict steps to stop infiltration,” he said.
The prime minister also referred to events before Independence, alleging that when the Muslim League and the British were preparing the ground for India’s Partition, a conspiracy was hatched to make Assam a part of East Pakistan.
“Congress was going to be part of this conspiracy. It was Gopinath Bardoloi who stood against his own party, opposed this plot to destroy Assam’s identity, and saved Assam from being separated from the country,” he claimed.
Modi said the BJP rises above party lines to honour every patriot, and recalled that the Vajpayee government conferred the Bharat Ratna on Bardoloi.
Highlighting development under what he described as the BJP’s “double-engine government”, Modi said progress in Assam was flowing unabated like the Brahmaputra river.
“My attachment to the land of Assam inspires me, gives me strength for the development of the region. Assam and the entire Northeast are becoming the gateway to India’s development,” he said, adding that development projects worth lakhs of crores of rupees have been initiated in Assam and the Northeast over the past 11 years.
The prime minister said India was working towards becoming a developed nation by 2047, with a focus on infrastructure, prioritising the underprivileged and ensuring that every state progresses together.
“Assam and the Northeast are leading this mission. The region has got priority through the Act East Policy with Assam emerging as India’s eastern gateway,” he said, adding that the state is playing the role of a bridge connecting India with ASEAN countries and will become an engine of developed India in many sectors.
He said the development of Assam could be achieved because the government is safeguarding the identity and culture of the region.
Responding to Modi’s claims, Gogoi criticised several central projects and policies. The prime minister is scheduled on Sunday to lay the foundation stone for a Rs 10,600-crore brownfield ammonia-urea plant at Namrup in Dibrugarh district.
Commenting on this, Gogoi said, “The second unit of the Namrup fertiliser plant was shut down in 2020. The fourth unit should have been commissioned long ago. As early as 2014, the central government had shown dreams to the people of Assam regarding the fourth unit, but only now has work begun.”
He alleged that tea gardens of the Assam Tea Corporation have been sold off one after another and that nearly 8,000 government schools have been closed across the state.
“At present, only a handful of people close to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma are enjoying benefits in Assam. From Dispur to Delhi, the BJP government’s policy has been to shut down indigenous and public sector industries, and hand over all work to a particular corporate house, thereby creating monopolies,” Gogoi said, adding that the state and the country have been deprived of the kind of economic progress that should have taken place on the ground.
Replying to a question on erosion in Majuli, the world’s largest river island, Gogoi said the prime minister should pay serious attention to the issue affecting the centre of Vaishnavite culture.
He recalled that during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as prime minister, Assam received substantial support for infrastructure development, with projects such as the Bogibeel bridge and the Silchar–Lumding railway expansion granted national project status and adequate financial assistance.
“What has the present central government done? Even funds meant for flood and erosion control are not being released on time,” he claimed.
The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president demanded publication of a white paper detailing how much money the BJP-led central government has released for flood and erosion control in Assam and how much has been allocated to other states.
On the regional situation, Gogoi strongly condemned the brutal killing of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh, who was beaten to death and set on fire.
He alleged that due to the failure of the Modi government’s foreign policy, anti-India forces have gained strength in what was once a friendly nation.
“India should have set an example for the world in upholding democracy and human rights. But we have failed to do so,” he said, adding that neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka were drifting away from India.
“Earlier, India had influence over these nations. Today, India has virtually no influence,” he claimed.
Looking ahead to the Assam assembly elections, Gogoi said the people would give a fitting reply to those who mock them.
He said the Congress has reached out to the people through its programme ‘Raijor Padulit Raijor Congress’ and reiterated the party’s commitment to building an ideal Assam with quality higher education for youths, a healthy social environment for rural women, villages free from liquor shops and drug trade, and adequate playgrounds for sportspersons.