Amit Shah seeks 5 more yrs to make Assam flood-free

MARGHERITA: Having failed to dredge the Brahmaputra over the past five years, Union home minister Amit Shah today sought five more years for the BJP from the people of Assam to make Assam “flood-free”.

Addressing an election rally here, the senior BJP leader said: “The BJP government has made Assam terrorism-free with the help of the Bodo Accord that led to surrender of over 2000 militants. The next is to make Assam flood-free. Give the BJP five more years to do it,” Shah said.

“We’ve surveyed the Northeast with the help of satellite image. We’ve prepared the blueprint to convert flood prone areas into huge lakes to get rid of the flood problem. That will also help develop tourism in those areas,” the former BJP national president said.

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Immediately after the Assam elections in 2016, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised them to take steps for the dredging of the Brahmaputra and construction of express highways on both banks of the Brahmaputra to tackle the flood menace.

However, it remained only a dream for the flood-affected people of Assam only to learn during the recent Parliament session that there was no such proposal at all.

Campaigning for Margherita’s BJP candidate Bhaskar Sarma, Shah also said Assam was not safe in the hands of the Congress till the grand old party keep allying with Badruddin Ajmal (All India United Democratic Front) or the Muslim League in Kerala.

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“The Congress was in power for 15 years. They encourage encroachment of the Kaziranga National Park and Satra land. It was Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government that evicted the encroachments. Rahul (Gandhi) Baba has been carrying along Badruddin in his lap here and do you think Assam is safe in the hands of that Congress? Why should the Congress ally with Badruddin in Assam or Muslim in Kerala? Under the circumstances, do you think Assam is safe in the hands of Congress?” Shah asked.

Undermining the gunning down of five Assam youths during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019, “we have also made Assam free from agitations.”

Accusing the Congress of killing hundreds of protesting youth in Assam in the past, Shah also took a dig at the All Assam Students’ Union-backed Assam Jatiya Parishad saying: “The Congress had killed hundreds of protesters and those protesters are now hand in glove with the Congress to defeat the BJP.”