Advertisement
The BJP government has worked tirelessly for the people in tea gardens across the state,” said Irani, also the Minister of Women and Child Development. Irani said the Congress did not do much for the development of the northeast, and it was only after the Modi government came to power in 2014, the region got its respect, dignity and due recognition. Irani had defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his home turf of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 general election.
Listing out a series of schemes launched by the central and state governments, she said the Congress government never worked for the poor people and appealed to the people to vote for the BJP in the assembly polls. Without naming former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Irani said, “There are some tall leaders of Congress from Assam and they even became the PM. But, AIIMS came to Assam only during Narendra Modi”s tenure.”
She was in Mariani, which is going to polls in the first phase on March 27, to campaign for BJP candidate Ramani Tanti, who will have a direct contest with the sitting three-time heavyweight Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi. Irani said the northeastern region has been witnessing a turnaround with the arrival of the Modi government in 2014. “When the Congress was at the Centre, it did not even release the Rs 60,000 crore to Assam under the 13th Finance Commission. But, when the Narendra Modi government came, it released Rs 1,70,000 crore under the 15th Finance Commission,” she claimed.
Related Articles
Advertisement
“During the pandemic, 80 crore people got free ration and 22 crore women got Rs 30,000 crore in their accounts,” Irani said. She asserted that had there been a Congress government during the pandemic, such benefits would have never been given to the people of the country because “no one is more corrupt than Congress”. Irani also attacked the Congress for joining hands with Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF to form an alliance and said “this party is attacking the culture, language and civilisation of Assam”. The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, has formed a Grand Alliance with AIUDF, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM), RJD and Jimochayan (Deori) Peoples Party (JPP) to fight the three-phase assembly elections against the BJP- led NDA.