Guwahati, Mar 29 (PTI) The Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, alleged that the ruling BJP has “betrayed” the people on several fronts, including its “failure” to ensure justice for singer Zubeen Garg and exuded confidence that Congress and its alliance partners will perform well in the forthcoming polls on April 9.
Saikia, in an interview to PTI, said the list of “betrayals” by the BJP was long, but the ”final betrayal came with its government’s failure to ensure justice for Assam’s popular singer Zubeen Garg”.
“I have been saying there should be a public scrutiny of proceedings regarding the singer’s case, but the government did not respond to this,” he said.
The Congress leader claimed that they had suggested the setting up of a committee, comprising prominent citizens who will observe the day-to-day proceedings in the court and development in the case to ensure that it was going in the right track but this has “not happened so far”.
The singer died on September 19 last year due to drowning in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the North East India Festival (NEIF) The BJP government has “betrayed” the people by giving citizenship to certain people by going beyond the Assam Accord, he said.
“The people of Assam were against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since the beginning, but the BJP disregarded their aspirations and went ahead with it,” Saikia added.
According to the CAA, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, will be given Indian citizenship… The Assam Accord of 1985, however, had set March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting all “illegal” migrants regardless of religion.
The Leader of Opposition further alleged that the BJP government also betrayed the tea garden workers of the state by increasing their wages by only Rs 30.
A committee was formed in 2014 to revise the wages of tea workers, and “I was its member, and I had raised the issue in the assembly, but the government said they could not do anything about it as it was a matter between garden owners and labourers.” “This time, however, just before the elections, the government raised it by Rs 30, showing that they can do anything when they want to,” Saikia said.
The Assam government, in a recent cabinet decision, had increased the wages of tea garden workers by Rs 30, with their wages being Rs 280 in the Brahmaputra Valley and Rs 258 in the Barak Valley.
Saikia further alleged that the BJP government failed to give Scheduled Tribes status to the six communities of Tai Ahom, Koch-Rajbongshi, Adivasis, Chutia, Moran and Motok, besides also failing to make the state free from floods.
When asked about the impact of senior leaders like Pradyut Bordoloi and Bhupen Borah leaving the Congress to join the BJP, he claimed it will not make any difference to the party’s prospects in the polls.
“They are not relevant, and their leaving will not have any impact, particularly in the constituencies of Upper Assam,” Saikia said.
Referring to Borah leaving the party, the Nazira MLA said, “People have now realised that there were two categories in the Congress that attacked the BJP – one was those who genuinely were against the ruling party, while the other included those who aligned with the BJP and criticised them in lieu of money.” “Borah falls in the second category, and his joining the BJP has exposed him before the people, which will definitely have a negative impact on his electoral prospects,” he said.
Asked about BJP’s claims that Saikia will also soon join the saffron party, the Congress leader said that both his parents, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia and his mother Hemoprava Saikia, a former minister, were in the grand old party, and what the BJP is saying will not happen.
“I am not under any duress or pressure… have already been grilled by the CBI and the Income Tax department. I have no need to go through the BJP washing machine,” he asserted.
Saikia further said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations against state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and his wife of having links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI were “totally false… he (Sarma) is a great liar, and it is unfortunate that a chief minister would stoop to this level”.
Regarding the opposition alliance of six parties, Saikia said he was happy about it but wished it had happened earlier, and the CPI was also roped in.
The opposition alliance comprises six parties – Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI(M), All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) and the CPI(ML).
“A CPI candidate is contesting against me in Nazira. The party has not put up a candidate in neighbouring Sivasagar, but if they are in favour of removing BJP from the state, it should have done the same in my constituency,” he said.
There are eight candidates in fray for the Nazira seat with a triangular contest likely between Saikia, BJP’s Mayur Borgohain and CPI’s Kanak Gogoi.
Saikia, who had won the 2021 assembly polls by a narrow margin of over 600 votes, said that he was confident of winning but “was not sure of the margin as the CPI candidate has jumped into the fray”.
Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly will be held on April 9. Votes will be counted on May 4. PTI DG RG
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