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'Illegal infiltration will be thing of past if BJP is re-elected in Assam': Shah
Union defence minister Rajnath Singh also addressed three poll rallies in Assam.
Illegal infiltration will become a thing of the past if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power again in Assam, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday while addressing rallies in the poll-bound state.
Union defence minister Rajnath Singh also addressed three election rallies in the state in Biswanath, Gohpur and Dergaon constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase on March 27.
“People of Assam have two options in this election. One is a BJP-Asom Gana Parashar government led by Modiji, Sarbananda and Sarma and the other choice is Rahul Gandhi’s Congress and (Badruddin) Ajmal’s All India United Democratic Front. Who can work for Assam’s good? Modiji or Rahul-Ajmal?” Shah said at Margherita in Tinsukia district.
The Union home minister said that in the past five years, the BJP government in Assam has been able to put an end to agitations and terrorism in the state and ensure development in a peaceful atmosphere.
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“Can Rahul, who has tied up with Ajmal, put an end to infiltration by illegal immigrants? Give us another five years, and illegal immigration will become a thing of the past in Assam,” said Shah.
Targeting the influential tea-tribe community in upper Assam districts, where polls would be held in the first phase on March 27, he listed welfare schemes launched for them by the state government and the Centre while blaming previous Congress governments in the state and Delhi for failing to do anything.
Shah assured that if the BJP comes to power again, Assam’s biggest problem i.e. annual floods would get solved. He said floodwaters would be diverted to big reservoirs, which in turn will become tourist destinations.
“We understand the pain of tea-garden workers and that’s why the BJP-led state government has approved an increase in their daily wages and allowances to ₹318 (from the existing ₹167),” Rajnath Singh said at a rally in Biswanath district.
“On May 2, when the poll results will be announced, the BJP will return to power again in Assam and also form its government in West Bengal. Tripura is already under BJP's rule. When we have governments in these three states, no infiltrator (from Bangladesh) will dare enter India,” he added while blaming the Congress for joining hands with the AIUDF.
On Sunday, the BJP released its list of 19 candidates for the third and final phase of polls on April 6. While two sitting MLAs have been denied tickets, the party selected industries minister Chandra Mohan Patowary to represent Dharmapur again. Names of ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma (Jalukbari) and state BJP chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass (Patacharkuchi) had been announced earlier.
“Before coming to power in 2016, the BJP had promised to protect ‘jati-mati-bheti’ (community-land-base). But by bringing in Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), it is giving a red carpet welcome to illegal immigrants, which in turn threatens the language, culture and identity of the people of Assam,” Congress in-charge of the state Jitendra Singh said on Sunday.
