Guwahati, April 9: Assam PCC president Ripun Bora today alleged that the BJP-led government was shying away from development issues by organising festivals.
"The BJP is running a government of festivals and not of development. All these festivals are a waste of public money," Bora told reporters here today.
On the recently-concluded Namami Brahmaputra Festival, vetted as the biggest river festival, Bora said, "Namami Brahmaputra, or any festival dedicated to the Brahmaputra, is meaningless until they address the severe problems of the river such as erosion and pollution. Every year lakhs of people in Assam are affected by erosion. At least once in the monsoons, several districts in the state get inundated. We support festivals, but only after solving the perennial problems of the state."
The five-day festival, organised in 21 districts of the state, was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee and graced by the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama's presence, besides several other guests such as Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari and Yoga Guru Ramdev, among others.
However, the festival was interrupted by pre-monsoon inclement weather throughout the five days.
Bora also criticised the government on the Gunotsav - a four-day festival organised by the elementary education department. Under the initiative, 12,445 government schools across eight districts of the state will be assessed by legislators and senior government officials to improve the standard of education.
He termed the festival, that concluded on Friday, as "eyewash". "The schools lack basic facilities like sanitation and lack of drinking water. More than a thousand schools do not have a permanent principal or headmaster. There are numerous schools which have only one teacher. Under the Sarba Siksha Yojana, students are supposed to receive books in the first week of January. It is now the fourth month of the year and students haven't received books yet. In such a situation, they are organising Gunotsav," Bora said.
