Rahul: Assam won't be allowed to be ruled by Nagpur

Guwahati/New Delhi: Launching a frontal attack on the ruling BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizenship, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in Guwahati on Saturday that Assam will not be allowed to be run by “chaddi walaas”.

Earlier in the day, participating in activities planned for the party’s 135th Foundation Day in Delhi, Mr Gandhi, who is tipped to return as the party president soon, termed CAA, NRC and NPR “Notebandi No. 2” and warned that they will be more disastrous than demonetisation.

Addressing the Congress’ “Save India” public rally in Guwahati, Mr Gandhi said, “Hum BJP aur RSS ko Assam ki history, bhasha, sanskriti par akraman nahi karne denge. Assam ko Nagpur nahi chalayega, Assam ko RSS ke chaddi-wale nahi chalayenge. Assam ko Assam ki janta chalayegi. (We won’t allow the BJP and RSS to destroy the history, language and culture of Assam. We also won’t let Nagpur or RSS rule Assam. Assam will be ruled by it own people.)”

Mr Gandhi also expressed fear that Assam might return to the path of violence due to the policies of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state.

“I fear that Assam is returning to the path of violence because of the BJP’s policies,” he said while asserting that it was the Assam Accord which brought peace and tranquillity to the state.

“The spirit of Assam Accord, which brought in peace, should not be touched,” the Congress leader said.

“Wherever the BJP goes, it spreads hatred. In Assam, the youth are protesting, in other states too protests are happening. Why do you have to shoot and kill them? The BJP doesn’t want to listen to voice of people,” Mr Gandhi, who visited the homes of victims killed in police firing in anti-CAA movement in Guwahati, said.

Five people have died in police firing in Assam’s anti-CAA, anti-NRC protests.

“Assam can never progress with hatred and violence. Everyone has to come together and tell the BJP leaders that they can’t attack the culture, language, identity and history of the state,” Mr Gandhi said while referring the state as an example of communal harmony.

Earlier in Delhi, attacking the BJP government over the issue of the National Population Register (NPR) and NRC, Mr Gandhi had said these exercises will be more disastrous than demonetisation announced in November 2016.

“This whole tamasha that is going on is Notebandi No. 2. This will be more disastrous for the people than demonetisation. This will have twice the impact of demonetisation,” he said, hitting out at the government over the issues of the amended Citizenship Act, NPR and NRC.

The basic idea of these exercises, he told reporters on the sidelines of the flag-hoisting ceremony at AICC headquarters, is to ask all poor people whether they are Indian or not. “His (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) 15 friends will not have to show any document and the money generated will go into the pockets of those 15 people,” he said.

In Guwahati, the former Congress president also accused the BJP of deviating the country from the path of development and said that the country’s growth rate has slipped from 9 per cent, adding that the youth of Assam are struggling to find employment.

The Prime Minister, he said, has failed to provide employment for the two crore youth of the country. “He waives taxes of big industrialists, but not of poor farmers and shopkeepers,” Mr Gandhi said, and then asked, “What happened to the BJP’s Make in India programme? How many industries have come to the state?”

Assam Congress president Ripun Bora, leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi were among the prominent leaders who attended the rally.