Guwahati, May 5 (PTI) A day after the Congress was routed with its worst ever performance in Assam, the party’s state chief Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday said it will play the role of a “proactive opposition” to raise people’s issues in the coming days.
Addressing a press conference here, he also said the Congress and the Opposition will keep a watch on the activities of the BJP-led government and protest if any anti-people policies are adopted.
“We accept this verdict of the people. Now, we will play our role as a proactive opposition to highlight people’s issues. If the government seeks our positive suggestions, we will definitely give those in Assam’s interest,” Gogoi said.
The party will go to the people again to seek their feedback, and then it will work to strengthen the organisation, he added.
“We will keep a watch on the BJP government and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s works. We will raise our voice if any anti-people stand is taken or injustice is done,” Gogoi said.
The Opposition will also stand up to the government if it indulges in corruption or threatens any segment of the population, he added.
“Even if we have fewer MLAs, we will not go silent. We have not accepted defeat mentally. If the Congress does not play the role of a true Opposition, democracy will be at stake. The government must be made accountable to the people,” Gogoi said.
He hoped that the BJP would not repeat the “mistakes” committed in the last five years and will solve people’s problems with renewed vigour.
For its crushing defeat, he accepted moral responsibility as he was “the captain of the Opposition alliance”.
When asked where the party and the Opposition failed, Gogoi said, “It’s too early to say what went wrong, we will have a detailed analysis of the results in the coming days. We could not get the number of seats expected by us.” Without specifying, he questioned the neutrality of the Election Commission and said all the processes were made to help the BJP win polls in the country.
“Our leader Rahul Gandhi had earlier raised the issue several times, including ‘vote chori’ (theft of votes) in other states. The role of EVMs is also important and margin in several places are questionable. The people are also not able to believe huge margins in some seats, as a close fight was expected in most of the seats,” Gogoi said.
He also pointed out that the Opposition does not have any trust in Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
“The BJP does not believe in democracy. That is why it advocates ‘one nation, one election’ theory. All of the EC’s practices are questionable, starting from the selection of the presiding officer to the implementation of the model code of conduct. Our grievances were never addressed,” Gogoi alleged.
He claimed that the ruling BJP is trying to “destabilise” the electoral process as it is not for any free and fair elections.
Gogoi said that all Congress candidates have been called for a feedback discussion on the results on Saturday in Guwahati.
Talking about his own loss in Jorhat constituency, the Congress state chief said the people showered love and support on him and apologised for not being able to win it.
Gogoi lost from Jorhat to incumbent BJP MLA Hitendra Nath Goswami by over 23,000 votes.
The Congress, which contested 99 seats in the 126-member assembly, won only 19 constituencies. The BJP-led NDA, on the other hand, bagged 102 seats. PTI TR ACD
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