BJP leader L.K. Advani waves to supporters at the election rally in Diphu on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Kheroni, March 25: The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani today launched the party’s campaign in Assam by promising an autonomous state to the inhabitants of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills and dialogues with militants for peace and harmony in the two volatile hill districts.

The districts fall under Diphu Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to the polls on April 16. Diphu is one of the eight parliamentary seats where the BJP is fielding candidates.

In his 30-minute speech at Kheroni in Hamren subdivision of Karbi Anglong, Advani said autonomy under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution was a long cherished dream of the people, but it remained elusive as the representatives of the constituency had failed to fulfil it.

“People expected a lot from Jayanta Rongpi who represented Diphu in New Delhi for three terms. The Congress representative was also silent on the issue. I request all of you to give Kulendra Daolagupu (the BJP candidate for Diphu) a chance to fulfil your dream. The work which we started during the Vajpayee government has remained unfinished. There might be a political solution to the insurgency in the greater interest of peace and development of the region,” he said.

Rongpi is also contesting on a CPI (M-L) ticket. He had won the seat from 1989 to 2004 as an ASDC candidate. Congress’s Biren Singh Ingti, the sitting MP, is also in the fray.

While dwelling on promises and problems, Advani claimed that the Congress manifesto did not mention a single word about influx, the biggest problem that the country was facing.

“Assam Bangladeshi ke liya bana hua dharamsala nahi hai (Assam is not a refuge for Bangladeshis),” he said, before leaving for Silchar to address another poll rally. There, too, he called for a stop to the menace.

Advani said if the BJP-led NDA returned to power, it would strive to weed out aliens by issuing citizenship cards with photographs and with the help of computers.

He said the party would also campaign for the basic needs of the aam admi (common man). He added that though the Congress was harping on the wellbeing of aam admi, the downtrodden people were actually being deprived. He said the BJP’s aim was to transform swaraj (Independence) to suraaj (clean administration).

Advani who has been criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “weak”, today said Singh was an upright person and his stature was being increasingly devalued by the Congress in favour of AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Advani had reached Kheroni at 11.50am to address the rally, which was attended by more than 20,000 people from the two hill districts.

Senior BJP leader Harendra Prasad, AGP’s Nagaon legislator Girindra Borua, BJP’s Lumding legislator Sushil Dutta and Daolagupu were present at the meeting.