GUWAHATI, March 26 - The great Assamese people are under tremendous pressure right now, as a mixed bag of opportunist and power-seeking political parties, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) at the helm of affairs, are trying to hoodwink people and grab power by hook or crook. Their pooh-poohs against the incumbent party in the State is not going to work, said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Anjan Dutta in a statement here today.
He said that the so-called coalition is making tall promises which cannot be realised and it is spewing venom on the successful ruling party (Congress). It does not know that the incumbent party has a history of delivering goods and tremendous experience in development and welfare.
The BJP has been coming to power since early 1980s in various States of the country and it has earned notoriety for communal hatred, corruption, scandals, favouritism, mis-management, utter negligence of people�s issues including development and welfare, betrayal of its own election promises and suppression of marginal sections of the people, including Dalits, Adivasis and Minorities.
Right now the BJP is ruling in eight States and all these States are afflicted by a number of social, economic and political ailments. Since the BJP is exhorting the people to vote it to power in Assam, the Congress thinks that it is its sacred duty to place the performance record of the party in other States over the years before the people of the State. This �progress� report is an indicator of the BJP�s performance as a ruling party and it will also provide the State�s people a scope to judge its credentials before arriving at a decision on whom to vote to power, Dutta said.
People in the BJP�s so-called stronghold Gujarat are so vexed with the ruling party that in the recent local body elections, Congress could make giant strides and it is pertinent to understand what led the Gujarati people to go against the BJP, despite its being in power at the Centre.
Even as an agrarian crisis is looming large on the State, the Government has done precious little to help the farmers. Despite tall promises of economic and industrial growth, the actual indicators suggest a declining trend and the size of unemployment is also growing. The Education sector is suffering from fund crunch and there are several reports that revealed the poor performance of the State in this sector. Though it is claimed to be the Swastha Gujarat, Ujjwal Gujarat, such hyperboles failed to materialise.
When the flagship State, a showpiece of the BJP�s performance, presents such a bleak picture, can the other States be different, wondered Dutta.
In Haryana, the BJP made 154 promises in its election manifesto in October 2014 and after 18 months, it came to light that not even a single promise was fulfilled.
Almost all the BJP-ruled States have a number of financial scandals and cases of misappropriation. Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh under the BJP rule, is the most scandalous among them.
The BJP, almost in all its election manifestoes, said it will control the rising prices and particularly food prices will be kept in check. But in all the States, thanks to the corruption and the nexus with the mafia that control the essential commodities markets, the prices continued to spiral.
Failing in its constitutional obligation to provide clean and welfare government with initiatives for development, the BJP Governments everywhere began to spread communal hatred, divisive politics and violence to divert people�s attention from day-to-day problems and today the whole of the country is a witness to such politically-motivated mayhems.
Given this dismal record, and particular antipathy towards the people of Assam, as manifested by its revoking the special State status of Assam and curbing the Central grants to it, what the people of Assam can expect from the BJP, if it is elected to power, said Dutta.
