TMC’s Sushmita Dev slams Himanta: “Citing Zubeen’s death to delay Silchar Municipal Polls is shameful"

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev launched a scathing attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over his recent remarks during a visit to Silchar, accusing him of misleading the public with his claims of Rs 1,000 crore worth of projects for the town while failing to hold municipal elections for five years.

Speaking to the media, Dev said, “The Chief Minister of Assam was in Silchar yesterday, and he is due to leave today. He made a sweeping statement saying that in a single day, he had announced projects worth Rs 1,000 crore for Silchar town itself. What he is not telling the rest of Assam is that for the last five years, in a prestigious municipal area and the second most populated town of the state, there have been no municipal elections.”

She alleged that both the Chief Minister and the minister in charge of Cachar have “consistently lied” about holding the civic polls. “He has repeatedly said he will have the elections. Now he is saying that because of the sudden and sad death of Zubeen Garg, no work is happening at the officer level, and therefore, elections can’t be held. Is he using Zubeen’s name to tell the people of Silchar that for five years they cannot have an elected body in the Silchar Municipal Corporation? It’s shameful and disgraceful,” Dev remarked.

Also Read: Himanta: Congress talked Rs 1,000 cr for Barak, BJP delivers Rs 1,000 cr for Silchar alone

The TMC MP also questioned Sarma’s claims of development in the Barak Valley, citing unfulfilled promises from the BJP’s own vision document for 2016–2025. “Mr. Chief Minister, please pull out and dust your own vision document that said what you were going to deliver for the people of Barak Valley. You had promised all-weather roads — yet the Mahasadak remains incomplete. You had promised urban trading centres — there isn’t a single one in the Barak Valley. You promised an agricultural university, a bench of the High Court, a mini-secretariat, and five bridges over the Barak River. None of these has been delivered as per your own vision document,” she said.

Concluding her remarks, Dev said, “If I were to give you a mark for your promises and performance, you would get a zero from me.”

Her criticism comes a day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, during his visit to Silchar, said that while the Congress once made headlines for announcing Rs 1,000 crore for the entire Barak Valley, his government has now laid the roadmap for projects worth Rs 1,000 crore for Silchar alone.