By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the participants of the Assam Agitation of the 1980s have floated different political parties to help the Congress win the upcoming Assembly elections.
“The agitationists have emerged with different names to cause a split of the BJP votes. Their goal is to help the Congress, a party which fired on the youth of the state and killed hundreds of them during the Assam Agitation, win the elections,” Shah said addressing a crowd at Batadrava in Assam’s Nagaon district.
“Everybody knows they (new parties) won’t be able to form the next government. They too know it. They cannot fool the people this way. People know that BJP and (its ally) Asom Gana Parishad can make Assam a peaceful and infiltrator-free state,” he said.
The new parties that came under Shah’s attack are Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dal. AJP was floated by All Assam Students’ Union and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad while Raijor Dal was formed by 70 organisations.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and others during a public rally, at Batadrava in Nagaon district. (Photo | PTI)
Shah slammed the Congress also for aligning with minority-based All India United Democratic Front, which is headed by Lok Sabha member Maulana Badruddin Ajmal.
“The rhinos are Assam’s pride. The infiltrators used to poach them. The Congress during its rule did nothing to thwart the killings for the greed of votes. Can a party, which is sitting with Ajmal, stop infiltration? Can it save the lives of the rhinos?” Shah asked.
“You have aligned with Ajmal to try and win the elections and you talk about Assam’s protection,” he said attacking the Congress.
He said the biggest thing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did for Assam was establishing peace in the state. Shah mentioned the surrender of insurgents and the Centre’s signing of the Bodo peace accord.
“He (Modi) took Assam forward on the road to development, freed the state of corruption and agitations and started the work of ridding it of the infiltrators,” the Home Minister said.
He said Modi had visited the Northeast 35 times in the last seven years to give impetus to various development projects.
