Borjhar, Dec. 28: Union human resource development minister and top BJP leader Smriti Irani today exhorted the people of lower Assam districts to throw the ruling Congress out of Dispur through ballots next year.
Addressing a workers' meeting organised by the BJP at the Gordon Higher Secondary School playground in Nalbari district this afternoon, Irani alleged that the last 15 years of Congress rule in Assam are marked by the rise in number of cases of violence against women, children, extortion, corruption and deteriorating law and order.
She said the people of the state would give a fitting reply to the Congress in the 2016 Assembly polls.
"Chief minister Tarun Gogoi must realise that a wave of change has hit Assam and his party which ruled the state for 15 years would be washed away by this wave. Lotus will bloom in this land (Assam)," Irani said.
The BJP today organised the workers' meeting in Nalbari in order to strengthen the organisational base of the party in lower Assam districts. The BJP gathered as many as 50,000 party workers from Nalbari, Kamrup, Baksa, Barpeta and Chirang districts.
Irani obliquely attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying one who takes photos with the poor by going to their houses and has sponsored lunch with them cannot understand the woes of the poor.
"But Prime Minister Narendra Modi will understand agonies of the poor since he himself led a hand-to-mouth existence. Soon after coming to power, Modiji has ensured that every citizen of the country has bank accounts. All banks have been instructed to protect the interests of the poor," the HRD minister said.
Irani who visited Nalbari - a day after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had addressed a rally in southern Assam - repeated almost what Sushma had said on Sunday.
Addressing a rally at Silchar in Barak Valley , Sushma said the Centre would launch Assam Vikash Yojana under which it would allocate Rs 1 lakh crore for improvement of road connectivity and Rs 28,000 crore for development of railway connectivity in the state.
Taking a dig at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sushma said Singh had represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha for more than two decades, but had not done anything for the state.
Union sports minister and Assam BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal while speaking at the workers' meeting in Nalbari said women are not safe in Assam because the ruling Congress leaders do not know how to respect them.
