Assam Cong charges Shah of spreading lies

This is your falsehood. In Assam 5,234 foreigners were deported in 2013 duringformer chief minister Tarun Gogois tenure, but the number wasjust 51 in 2017 under Sarbananda Sonowals government, hesaid.On Shahs comment that the state will not be safe in thehnads of the Congress and AIUDF, Bora said In Assam, BJP isrunning the zilla parishads in alliance with AIUDF in Darrang,Karimganj and Nagaon districts at this moment.

A day after Union Home MinisterAmit Shah kickstarted BJP's campaign for the state election inAssam, the opposition Congress on Monday charged him ofspreading lies.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Ripun Boraalso defended the party's alliance with AIUDF, which was thetarget of Shah's speech.

''The characters of Amit Shah and other BJP leaders arethe same. They just lie to divert issues. They have some paidagents on social media to make the lies look like truth. It'sjust Hitler politics,'' Bora, a Rajya Sabha MP said.

Giving a point-by-point reply to Shah's allegations,Bora said the union home ministry is sitting idle with theNational Register of Citizens (NRC), which has excluded 19lakh people from its final list.

''Amit Shah said only BJP can stop infiltrators and theyare doing it. When NRC's first draft had excluded 40 lakhpeople, he had termed all of them as infiltrators on the floorof the Parliament and said each one would be deported.

''What step have you (Shah) taken to accept the NRC? Haveyou taken any initiative? Supreme Court had asked theauthorities to help those 19 lakh in applying to the tribunalsso that genuine Indians are included. But you and theRegistrar General of India have not done anything yet. Theentire process is suspended. What does it mean?'' Bora said.

Shah had alleged that the Congress-AIUDF combine willopen ''all gates'' to welcome infiltrators if it comes to powerin Assam.

The state Congress chief further said ''From 2014 to 2017,only 1,822 foreigners were deported from the country. This wasthe reply of the union home minister in Parliament. But duringUPA tenure from 2005 to 2013 a total of 82,728 foreigners weredeported. This is your falsehood.'' In Assam 5,234 foreigners were deported in 2013 duringformer chief minister Tarun Gogoi's tenure, but the number wasjust 51 in 2017 under Sarbananda Sonowal's government, hesaid.

On Shah's comment that the state will not be safe in thehnads of the Congress and AIUDF, Bora said ''In Assam, BJP isrunning the zilla parishads in alliance with AIUDF in Darrang,Karimganj and Nagaon districts at this moment. Please clarifyyour stand in this regard.'' He asserted that AIUDF chief and Lok Sabha MP BadruddinAjmal never said anything anti-Hindu. On the contraryBJP is constantly spreading hate against the Muslims by theiranti-Muslim rhetoric.

''Don't think that you (Shah) can fool the Assamese peoplein every election. You have already nullified the Assam Accordby bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,'' he added.

On the union home minister's promise to solve theperennial flood problem in the next five years, Bora cited aCAG report and said from 2014 to 2019 the fund allocation toNDRF was cut by 60 per cent in respect to Assam.

''Are you solving Assam's flood problem by paring downfunds or making it more complex? In 2014-2020 states got up toRs 13,000 crore under NDRF category. But Assam was allottedonly Rs 284 crore, that too in 2019-20.Before that no moneywas given to Assam since 2014,'' he claimed.

Bora also slammed Shah for promising tea garden workersof solving their problems and said the government has donenothing for granting ST status to the community and notensured the minimum daily wage of Rs 351.

The election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is likelyin March-April. The 2016 elections gave a fractured mandateand no party has the absolute majority in the currentassembly.

The BJP is the single largest party with 60 MLAs, whileits allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People'sFront (BPF) have 13 and 12 lawmakers respectively. The rulingcoalition also has the support of an Independent MLA.

The opposition Congress has 20 MLAs at present, while theAll India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has 14 members inthe Assembly.