GUWAHATI: A day after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has slammed the old grand Congress party and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, accusing them of weakening the democracy by declaring National Emergency, and Congress-led grand-alliance hit back at CM Sarma for the same today.
"Assam CM has written an article yesterday on democracy. He is such a pro-democratic person who does not even want opposition in the Assam Assembly. Opposition is an asset of democracy and he wants to end that. His statement speaks for himself," said Deben Bhattacharyya, Secretary CPI(M) Assam, today at a grand-alliance press conference here.
"He went out to buy opposition MLAs, he formed his own government by raiding other political parties. These all are undemocratic tactics and he's indulged the most in them. Now he wants to talk about democracy," Bhattacharya added further.
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CPI(M) chief further taken the example of the government's ongoing eviction drives even after the Gauhati High Court stayed eviction during the pandemic period in a recent order.
Bhattacharya also accused the BJP government of conducting eviction from a communal angle against which violates the constitution of India as well. The opposition also accused CM Sarma of trying to divert people from main issues like price hikes with religious polarisation.
"He went to Nagpur recently to visit RSS. He must have learned a few new tactics to apply in Assam to play divisive politics as well," said Bhattacharya.
Anchalik Gana Morcha president Ajit Kumar Bhuyan said, "In India, every day is an emergency nowadays. BJP is just afraid of showcasing their fascism openly. Indira Gandhi learned her lesson after doing that. So they are doing it quietly. Whosoever challenge them will be charged under sedition."
On the other hand, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora has claimed that Assam's mandate was against BJP in the last assembly polls as total votes registered for BJP was approximately 91 lakh whereas opposition parties against BJP altogether received 96.45 lakh.
"I also want to put some light on the price hike. In just two months they have hike the prices of petrol-diesel 29th times. Now in 150 Indian cities, fuel price reached Rs 100," said Ripun Bora.
"Why is this happening? It is happening because the BJP government has failed to run the country in other ways. They could not mobilize resources, no economic policies, no way of revenue generation. Hence, the party decided to run the country on its citizens and keep on increasing the excise price. The Modi government collected 22 lakh crore rupees in seven years only by increasing excise price on petrol and diesel," claimed Bora.
The grand-alliance took a shot at the BJP government and CM Sarma on issues like Assam's poor performance in NITI Ayog's SDG list and also said that Cm Sarma is solely responsible for poor infrastructure in the education and health sector as these two portfolios were held by CM Sarma from 13 to 18 years.