Sonowal not running a govt in Assam, but a syndicate: Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel

GUWAHATI: Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel today accused his Assam counterpart Sarbananda Sonowal of running a 'syndicate' in the state.

Baghel, addressing the press earlier here today, said that although the BJP has been seeking votes in the name of cows countrywide, but in Assam, it has been hand and glove in sponsoring and carrying out cow trade across the border with Bangladesh.

Claiming that the Sonowal government has been running a 'systematic syndicate', Baghel added that ever since BJP has come to power in Assam in 2016, cow trade and exports of cow meat in Bangladesh have gone up by 211% just in two years.

"Sonowal government has been claiming that they are stopping this cow trade and have claimed many hundreds of seizures of such illegal trade. If it is true then where are the cows being kept, and which gaushala have they been kept at?," Baghel charged.

The Congressman also claimed that the Sonowal government has "broken all records in coal brokerage and illegal coal trading."

"Almost 500 trucks of illegal coal transportation are taking place every day. Besides this there are syndicates dealing in bamboo, pan, fish etc," he said.

He also chided his Assam counterpart for the ongoing 'unemployment problem' in Assam. "In my information, 16.42 lakh people were unemployed between 2016 and 2018 and this figure has increased to 20 lakhs in 2020. This implies that instead of giving employment, BJP government has snatched jobs around 5 lakh people."

"I want to ask why the Sonowal government is quiet on tea labour reforms, without any concrete answers. Our leader Rahul Gandhi had made a promise to the tea workers. I want to assure to the people of Assam that this promise will be fulfilled in the same manner as it was fulfilled in Chhattisgarh. In Chhattisgarh, the Congress govt waived farmer loans within 2 hours after taking oath. We are buying paddy from the farmers at MSP. Apart from MSP, we have started a new scheme called “Rajiv Gandhi's Kisan Nyay yojana”, where we are paying Rs 10,000 per acre to the farmers for paddy, sugar cane and maize," he added.

Terming the incumbent government as an "enemy of peace and progress" he further claimed that people are regretting that they voted for BJP five years ago and they are not in a mood to repeat the same mistake.