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Tag: Assam tea workers

  • Assam polls: Rahul Gandhi promises to hike wages of tea workers

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: In an attempt to woo the tea workers in Assam, the Congress on Sunday promised to hike their wages.Addressing a rally in the state’s Sivasagar, party leader Rahul Gandhi said the wages would be hiked from Rs 167 to Rs 365 if the Congress is voted to power.“What can you buy with Rs 167? I want to tell the tea workers that we will hike your wages to Rs 365,” Gandhi said.Hike in wages is a long-standing demand of the tea workers.Faced with a tough election in the wake of the poll alignment between Congress and minority-based All India United Democratic Front and the birth of regional parties Asom Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal, the BJP is trying to warm up to the tea workers.

    ALSO READ: Some forces seated abroad conspiring against India, not sparing even Indian tea, says PM ModiThe state has 126 Assembly seats and in one/third of them, the votes of tea garden workers determine the fate of candidates. The BJP has taken up a series of initiatives for the welfare of the community.Gandhi also committed to protect the principles of the Assam Accord signed between All Assam Students’ Union and the Central government in 1985 at the end of six-year-long bloody Assam Agitation against illegal immigration.“The Congress leaders and I will defend and protect the principles of the Assam Accord. We will not retreat one inch,” Gandhi asserted.He said Assam has the issue of illegal immigration but the people in the state have the confidence and capability to resolve it through dialogues.Pointing to the crossed Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on the Assamese “gamosa” that he and other Congress leaders on the dais were wearing, he said, “No matter what, we will not allow the CAA.”Recalling the lessons that he learnt from former Chief Minister the late Tarun Gogoi, Gandhi said whenever he visited Assam in the past, he got the chance to talk to the departed leader.“Given Assam’s diversity, it is a complex state for those coming from outside. He (Gogoi) would educate me on different subjects. Every time I returned, I felt I learnt something new,” Gandhi said.He said he was hurt when he had seen Gogoi’s name on the list of awardees (of Padma Bhushan) this year as it also had the name of a former bureaucrat from the Prime Minister’s Office who would always pamper the PM.“Gogoi was my guru, so I did not like it,” Gandhi said.He reiterated his “hum do, hamaare do” jibe at BJP stating “They say hum do, hamaare do, baki sob maar lo”.

  • Some forces seated abroad conspiring against India, not sparing even Indian tea: PM Modi

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said some forces seated abroad were conspiring against India and they were not sparing even the Indian tea.

    “As I talk about the tea workers, I want to tell you of a conspiracy hatched to defame the country. The conspirators have gone to such an extent that they are not sparing even the Indian tea. They are saying the image of Indian tea has to be tarnished worldwide, systematically,” Modi told a crowd after remotely inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of some projects at a programme in poll-bound Assam’s Dhekiajuli.

    “The evidence that we have suggests the forces are seated abroad, ready to launch an attack on India’s tea-based identity,” the PM said without naming the forces.

    He said the tea workers and each individual who drinks tea will seek an explanation from the political parties for maintaining silence on it.

    “But I want to tell the conspirators that no matter how much you conspire, the country won’t allow you to succeed. The tea workers will win this battle. Those who are conspiring to launch an attack on Indian tea, they are not strong enough to confront the strength of our tea workers,” Modi asserted.

    The PM underscored various steps initiated to better the lives of tea workers. He spoke about the Cha Bagichhar Dhan Puraskar Mela scheme under which the Assam government has transferred Rs 584 crore to the bank accounts of close to 7.5 lakh tea workers in three instalments.

    “Assam’s happiness and progress are Assam’s tea gardens. The red tea of Sonitpur is known for its special flavour. Who knows the taste of Assam tea better than me? That’s why I always see the progress of tea workers with the progress of Assam,” Modi said.

    He also made reference to a scheme of Assam’s BJP-led government under which pregnant tea garden women are handed a financial assistance of Rs 12,000. He lauded the government for sending mobile medical units to the tea gardens and supplying free medicines to the workers.

    Stating that a special scheme entailing Rs 1,000 crore was announced in the Budget for the welfare of the tea community in Assam, he said this would make the lives of the workers easier.

    Faced with a tough election, the BJP is trying to woo the tea workers in Assam. The state has 126 Assembly seats and in 40-42 of them, the votes of tea garden workers determine the fate of candidates.

    The problems for the BJP increased in the aftermath of the formation of a Congress-led grand alliance of six Opposition parties and the birth of two regional forces.