‘Criticising Jorhat flyover led to embarrassing defeat’: Himanta’s swipe at Gaurav Gogoi

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on May 26 criticised Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for opposing key infrastructure projects in the state, saying such criticism reflected an “old mindset” that people of Assam no longer accepted.

Speaking during the Assam Assembly session, Sarma said development projects such as flyovers, tunnels and road infrastructure had received strong public support across the state.

“Whenever a flyover is constructed, the people of the state welcome and support it,” the chief minister said, while alleging that criticism of the Jorhat flyover had politically damaged Gogoi in his own constituency.

“Merely because a leader criticised the flyover at Jorhat, today a powerful leader of Assam had to face a very embarrassing defeat in Jorhat,” Sarma said, in an apparent reference to the Congress leader.

The chief minister also referred to criticism surrounding the proposed tunnel between Golaghat and Gohpur, arguing that opposition to such projects showed resistance to Assam’s changing development priorities.

“If a political leader criticises the tunnel between Golaghat and Gohpur, and even criticises the flyover being constructed with the support of his own government, which will save lakhs of people in the state from transport difficulties, then the people of Assam immediately understand that this leader wants to remain stuck in his old thinking,” Sarma said.

He further claimed that Assam was moving away from what he described as a period of “ignorance” and underdevelopment.

“The atmosphere that was trying to keep Assam hidden in the darkness of ignorance is gradually disappearing,” the chief minister added.