Guwahati, March 24: The ruling Congress in Assam today promised to create employment opportunity for one member of every family in the state in case the party comes to power for the fourth time.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi while releasing the party's manifesto for next month's Assembly polls here this evening claimed that his government has been able to bring about massive development in various sectors during its past 15 years and committed to do so in the years to come.
Sources said Gogoi has played the "job card" to counter the BJP, which is accusing the Congress of resorting to corruption during its 15-year rule in the state which has halted development and aggravated the unemployment problem. Former Congress strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma, who joined the BJP last year, said during the 15 years of Congress regime, the number of educated unemployed youths has gone up from 9 lakh to 25 lakh.
Union finance minister and BJP top brass Arun Jaitley will visit the city tomorrow to release Assam Nirman, the BJP's vision document, to bring about revolutionary development in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day visit to the state from Saturday is expected to make development the major poll plank.
"The BJP and AGP must introspect on the state of affairs of Assam when both were in power in 2001. The Congress has been able to rescue the state, which was on the brink of ruin when the BJP government was in power in Delhi and the AGP in Dispur in 2001," Gogoi said.
If Gogoi has played the "job card" while releasing the manifesto in Guwahati here this evening, he played the "religion card" last evening in Silchar in Barak Valley by accusing the BJP of shedding crocodile tears for Hindu migrants in Assam.
Gogoi, while addressing a rally in Silchar last evening, alleged that BJP chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal was responsible for the sufferings of alleged 'D' voters in Assam.
"They (BJP) are now shedding crocodile tears for Hindu migrants. But it was Sonowal who went to the Supreme Court against the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act. With the apex court striking down the act, lakhs of people have been branded 'D' voters. Under the act, the burden of proving the citizenship was rested on the accuser and police, not the accused," he said.
Gogoi said the Congress was always sympathetic to the rights of the people who came to Assam from Bangladesh because of religious persecution. He slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for its "dilly-dally" tactics on granting citizenship to "persecuted" refugees and said the BJP leaders only pay lip service to brighten their electoral prospects.
"We had urged the Centre on numerous occasions to grant citizenship to Bengali Hindus, Buddhists and people from other communities who crossed over to Assam after being subjected to inhuman torture after Partition on grounds of religion. But the Centre did not pay any heed to our request," he said.
Gogoi went on to say that the BJP was trying to polarise votes on religious lines.
The 55-page manifesto, while stressing on all-round development of the state, has given thrust to fast and significant development of Barak Valley. Besides setting up a mini secretariat, the manifesto promised to complete East-West Corridor, solve power crisis, set up a super-specialty hospital and a separate bench of Gauhati High Court in Barak Valley.
In an attempt to counter the BJP's allegation of pro-foreigners' stand by the Congress, the manifesto has promised to complete update of the NRC, setting up district vigilance committees to detect illegal foreigners and completion of fencing along the India-Bangladesh border within the next three years.
Supporting the issue of giving ST status to six communities in the state, the manifesto has promised to implement multiple welfare schemes for various communities, including minorities and tea community.
Before releasing of the manifesto at Rajiv Bhawan here, over 30 BJP and AIUDF leaders, along with their supporters joined the ruling Congress in the presence of the chief minister and PCC president Anjan Dutta.
Additional reporting by Nilotpal Bhattacharjee in Silchar
