Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted the Opposition Congress yet again with his development and influx pitch on the second and final day of his visit to poll-bound Assam.
Addressing a gathering at Kaliabor after performing the bhoomi pujan of the ₹6,950-crore Kaziranga Elevated Corridor Project — the four-laning of the Kaliabor-Numaligarh section of NH-715 — Modi said BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state had changed public sentiment by prioritising the development of the Northeast.
He said Assam was being connected simultaneously through roadways, railways, airways and waterways, while hitting out at the Congress for neglecting region’s connectivity needs during its years in power.
Dwelling on the Kaziranga project, Modi said the 90-km corridor from Kaliabor to Numaligarh was being developed, including a 35-km elevated wildlife corridor over Kaziranga National Park, to ensure smooth vehicular movement above while allowing unhindered wildlife movement below “with the design prepared keeping in mind traditional movement routes of rhinos, elephants and tigers”.
Modi then flagged the issue of influx, as he had during his earlier visits to Assam in September and December, calling it “a major challenge” and using it to attack the Congress.
“This challenge is of saving Assam’s identity, of saving Assam’s culture… Today, the way the BJP government in Assam is dealing with infiltration, the way it is freeing our forests, historical cultural sites and your lands from illegal occupations, is being greatly praised today... Should this happen or not? Is this for your good or not?” Modi asked.
Questioning the Congress’s approach to Assam, he said: “Just to form governments, to get some votes, it handed over the soil of Assam to infiltrators,” adding that the party had “no concern” for the state’s history, culture and “our faith”.
Calling influx a “very big threat” to the security of both Assam and the nation, Modi warned people to be “very careful” of the Congress. “Congress has only one policy: save the infiltrators, get power with the help of infiltrators. Across the whole country, Congress and its companions are doing this,” he said.
“In Bihar too, they took out rallies to save infiltrators. But the public of Bihar completely wiped out Congress. Now it is the turn of the people of Assam. I am confident that Congress will get a befitting reply from the land of Assam as well,” Modi asserted.
Addressing a rally in Guwahati on Saturday, Modi had similarly flagged the influx issue, accusing the Congress of having “opened the doors for infiltrators and focused on welcoming them” and neglecting the region’s development.
Cong reaction
Assam PCC president Gaurav Gogoi said Assam’s main problems were floods and erosion. “In the name of constructing the Kaziranga Corridor, dust and sand will be raised, adversely affecting wildlife. If ₹7,000 crore were spent on embankment construction and preventing artificial floods, everyone would have benefited,” he said.
“There will be dust pollution and noise pollution. What impact this will have on wildlife and water systems — what studies have been conducted on this — should have been disclosed to the people,” Gogoi added.
Former APCC president Bhupen Kumar Bora, meanwhile, said the BJP has “failed” to fulfil the promises on the basis of which it came to power. He recalled that the BJP had termed the 2016 election the “last battle of Saraighat”, alluding to the influx issue, but later imposed the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
The Congress has opposed the CAA, which expedites Indian citizenship for persecuted non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India without papers before December 31, 2014.
Bora also accused the ruling BJP of failing to protect the land rights of indigenous people, claiming land had instead been handed over to big corporate houses such as Adani and Ramdev.
He further referred to remarks by BPF leader Hagrama Mohilary at the mega Bagurumba dance event at Sarusajai Stadium here on Saturday evening, which Modi attended. Bora said Mohilary had “boldly reminded” the Prime Minister that despite promises, the 2020 Bodo peace accords had not yet been implemented, claiming this reflected growing opposition to the BJP in BTC areas.