Curtains down on Assam’s high-voltage campaign for April 9 Assembly polls

Guwahati: The high-voltage campaign, fraught with accusations and promises galore, for the elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.

The polls will be held on April 9 to decide the electoral fate of 722 candidates.

BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah, attacked the Opposition Congress, accusing it of encouraging infiltrators to settle down in Assam’s land to create a vote bank, and failing to control insurgency and usher in development and employment during its rule.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma upped the ante by directly attacking Bengali-speaking Muslims of immigrant origin, derogatorily called the ‘Miyas’, claiming that during the last

five years, “he has broken their arms and legs” and in the next five “he will break their backbones”.

The ruling party in the state asserted that it provided land ownership rights to tea garden workers, empowerment schemes to women, financial assistance for girl students, and brought down child marriage by 84 per cent.

The BJP leaders claimed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in the state to prevent polygamy and promised that the journey of development will continue.

The Opposition Congress and its alliance partners have accused the BJP of practising the ‘politics of hate’, indulging in widespread corruption, particularly by the

CM and his family members, lopsided development, and not being serious about ensuring justice to popular

singer Zubeen Garg, who died in Singapore on September 19 last year.