Congress leader Debabrata Saikia slams BJP for Unfulfilled promises

Guwahati, January 3, 2019:

Debabrata Saikia, leader of opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, has issued a statement about Union Home Minister Rajnath’s Singh’s announcement that a high-level committee will be set up for implementation of Clause-6 of the Assam Accord. Saikia claims that the ruling BJP is rattled after the fierce opposition to the Citizen (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Assam and is trying to hoodwink the people three months before the general election. He has also claimed that the BJP’s move is insincere and is a cheap gimmick meant to win elections.

Calling yesterday’s announcement a pre-poll ‘jumla’, Saikia said that the BJP has been continually promising to implement the Accord. A committee with G K Pillai as chief had been formed under the Vajpayee government in 2000, but no progress was made. Again, on 27^th December 2016 and 26^th April, 2017, Rajnath Singh had promised implementation of the Accord.

Saikia pointed at the list of unfulfilled pre-election promises that the BJP had made in 2014 and 2016 such as deportation of illegal immigrants in Assam, revival of Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, sanction of 4500 crores for the Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation, etc.

Finally, Saikia posed some questions to the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government: why the government had not made provisions to implement the plan earlier and why the government made the announcement only three months before the election. He also asked for the motives behind using the term “Assamese people” in the official press release, when no consensus has been arrived at regarding the definition. He also asked if the NDA government is willing to withdraw the Citizenship (Amendment) Bil, 2016, which effectively nullifies the Assam Accord.

Saikia also asked if ST status will be awarded to the six communities in Assam before the Lok Sabha elections. He further posited whether implementation of Clause-6 of the Accord entail scrapping the process of privatizing oilfields, limestone mines etc. In Assam. Finally, Saikia asked whether the NDA government has kept its promise to consult all stakeholders before resuming construction of Lower Subansiri Hydel Project or has the construction work been started without anyone’s knowledge.