Assam BJP hits back at Bhupesh Baghel over flood, price rise remarks; calls his comments 'laughable'

The Assam Pradesh BJP on Sunday, September 13 hit back at Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel over his remarks on Assam's flood situation and rising prices, calling his political advice to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma "laughable" and questioning his record in government.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters in Guwahati, Assam BJP spokesperson Brojen Mahanta said Baghel was not in a position to lecture the BJP on governance, pointing to the Congress's defeat in the 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections and allegations of corruption and irregularities that surfaced during his tenure.

Mahanta said the Congress had won 68 of the 90 Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh in 2018 and formed the government, but was voted out in 2023, when the BJP returned to power.

The BJP spokesperson cited several allegations associated with the former Congress government, including an alleged liquor scam estimated at around Rs 3,000 crore, an alleged parallel excise syndicate between 2019 and 2022, the Mahadev betting app case, allegations related to protection money, an alleged coal levy racket involving around Rs 500 crore, and alleged irregularities in the 2021 Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission recruitment process and custom billing.

Responding to Baghel's remarks that people across India were beginning to understand what he described as the BJP's "anti-democratic" activities, Mahanta referred to the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.

He said several political leaders in Assam, including former Chief Minister Golap Borbora and Dulal Baruah, were arrested during the Emergency and argued that Congress leaders should take this history into account while making allegations about democracy.

Mahanta also criticised the Congress over its position on defining Assam's indigenous population. He alleged that the party, driven by electoral considerations, had provided political patronage and preferential treatment to people who had illegally entered Assam from Bangladesh.

"The conscious people of Assam have not forgotten how the Congress, for the sake of its vote-bank politics, sought to provide political protection and privileges to those who had illegally entered Assam from Bangladesh," Mahanta said.

The BJP spokesperson's remarks came a day after Baghel, who is the Congress's Assam in-charge, addressed a press conference in Guwahati and spoke about issues including floods and rising prices in the state.

BJP spokesperson Pranjal Kalita and media panellist Amal Narayan Patowary were also present at the press conference.