Assam: BJP turned election campaigns into event management exercises, says Congress

GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has taken the Bharatiya Janata Party at gunpoint and said the party has turned their election campaigns into event management exercises where people are gathered to listen to their false promises and condemned the party's failure in waiving off the microfinance loans of women and branding it as just a 'political statement' later.

"The CM cannot make light of his electoral promise by saying it was a 'political statement '. It is a grievous matter of breach of trust," said the statement released by APCC media chairperson and general secretary Bobbeeta Sharma.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was the Finance Minister then, had made a poll promise, to waive off microfinance loans of all the women if BJP comes into power again, which has believed to be a booster to the party in the assembly polls.

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Once the party came back in power, that is also with the same number of seats they have won last time, the debtor women have started seeking the complete loan waiver as per promise.

But after studying the total amount of the loans taken by the women, which is approximately Rs 12,000 crore, the government has put forward a long list of terms of conditions which was not mentioned earlier by the government ever in the first place.

Bobbeeta Sharma asked, "Now the question arises what will happen to those lakhs of women debtors who turned out in huge numbers in the election rallies believing the then Finance Minister's words as written on stone thinking of him as their savior? Why didn't he say to these innocent women that guidelines will be applicable? Lakhs of women will be left out due to these guidelines."

Mrs. Sharma also accused BJP of riding to power with false promises taking the reference of Rs. 15 lakhs for each citizen, 2 crore jobs for unemployed youth every year, and the most-talked-about increment in the daily wages of tea workers to Rs 351.

"The BJP has turned election campaigns into huge event management exercises where people are gathered to listen to their false promises. For them, electoral promises mean 'jhumla' as has been famously acknowledged by one of their senior Ministers," said Bobbeeta Sharma taking a jibe at the BJP.

Now the sudden change of words from the chief minister itself invoked state-wide outrage by the debtor women and they have marked their protest despite critical situations like COVID.

"Is it their fault for believing him?" Bobbeeta Sharma further added, "The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee demands that the Government immediately release a white paper on the total number of women debtors, how many women will be able to avail the loan waive as per the different categories and guidelines subscribed by the Government and how many women will not be able to avail of the loan waive as per their guidelines."

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