Opposition Congress MLAs on Tuesday came to the Assembly carrying plastic sacks on their heads in protest against Assam's rising debt burden under the BJP-led dispensation in the state since 2016 .

Leader of the Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, also the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, said during the protest that chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, as the finance minister of the first BJP-led government in the state, used to criticise former chief minister Tarun Gogoi for the outstanding debt of about ₹10,000 crore in 2016. The late Gogoi demitted office in 2016 after 15 years in power.

“In nine years of BJP rule since 2016, they have overburdened us with a debt of ₹47,324 per head. This is worrying and that is why we are holding this protest to remind the government of our growing debt burden,” Saikia said.

The sacks had printouts on them that read: “Per capita debt burden after 9 years of BJP rule: ₹47,324.15” and “Per capita debt burden ₹10,760.44 upto 2016".

Congress MLAs said carrying the sacks on their heads was a gesture to portray the debt burden on each citizen and the strain the government has placed on the people through its financial policies.

“The ruling BJP used to say we will teach people how to catch fish but now they are supplying them with fish through various beneficiary schemes through borrowed funds that is pushing up the debt burden and will one day affect each one of us,” Saikia said.

The protest was staged on the last day of the budget session.

Assam finance minister Ajanta Neog had said in the Assembly that the state’s liabilities were ₹1,15,751.32 crore as on March 31, up from ₹82,741.09 crore in 2021, the year Himanta Biswa Sarma took over as the chief minister. The debt burden has increased more than three times from ₹35,690.22 crore in 2016.

Sarma has asserted that the state’s borrowings are among the lowest in the country and within permissible limits and that Assam was the fourth fastest-growing state in the country.

He was also bullish on this year's budget, which "caters" to all sections of society and boosts growth.

However, the Opposition has regularly punched holes in Sarma’s model of development based on borrowings.