Guwahati, March 18 Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, along with other BJP leaders, are fooling the people through deception and falsehood.
Surjewala said that in the name of development, the Prime Minister and the Assam Chief Minister are "serving mendacity to the people of Assam".
"Big announcements were made to develop Assam, but the outcomes of the announcements were empty," the Congress leader told the media in Guwahati.
He said that when the Congress was ruling the state five years ago, Assam was ranked second in the country in growth index. But the state has been pushed to the 20th spot in the latest rankings, while the per capita income of Assam has also reduced to a large extent, Surjewala said.
Claiming that "Assam is now recognised as the most unsafe place for women", Surjewala said that in the last three years, as many as 80,794 cases have filed for crimes against women.
"BJP has made Assam the hub of child trafficking. Half of such crimes are reported from Assam only," Surjewala said, as he asked the Prime Minister, "Will you answer about the crimes against women?"
The Congress leader said, "Is Modi-ji planning to implement the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) after the Assam Assembly polls? The PM promised to implement the CAA in West Bengal. On the other hand, he said that his government will not implement CAA in Tamil Nadu. Why is Modi-ji silent in the context of Assam? Why this double standard?"
Surjewala further said that the Modi-run Centre and the Sonowal-led state government had announced 20 big projects worth Rs 10,860 crore, but these projects are still in the initial stages even after many years of making the announcement.
"Modi-ji had promised to the people of Assam that out of 63.25 lakh rural families, 59 lakh families will get water under the 'Jal Jeevan' scheme. But even after three years, as many as 56 lakh families are still deprived of this scheme," he said.
Surjewala said that the Modi government had announced in 2017 that on both banks of Brahmaputra river, 1,300 km of expressway would be built at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. "But on February 8, the government informed the Rajya Sabha that there was no proposal to build any expressway on the two banks of Brahmaputra river," he said.
Quoting the record of the National Family Health Survey, the Congress leader said that in the last five years, the schemes related to women and children had fallen prey to corruption.
"In 2015, 35 per cent children between the age of six and 49 months suffered from anemia, but in 2020 the figures increased to 68.4 per cent," he said.
( With inputs from IANS )
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