In Assam rally, PM says Congress win could mean ‘protection for infiltrators’

Gogamukh/Behali: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched the BJP’s poll campaign in Assam by wooing tea garden workers and accused the Congress of planning to bring a law to protect infiltrators if it comes to power, which the BJP and its allies will not allow.

Modi began his campaign with a visit to the Manohari Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district, where he plucked tea leaves alongside 19 women workers.

“Tea is the soul of Assam! The tea from here has made its way across the world. It was a very memorable experience,” he said in a post on X.

His move to visit the tea garden assumes significance as the workforce of over 850 gardens in the state forms a formidable chunk of the electorate.

Tea workers traditionally exercised their franchise in favour of the Congress for decades, but there has been a significant swing towards the BJP since the 2014 Parliamentary polls. In the last two Assembly elections, their votes gave the saffron party a decisive victory in tea garden-dominated constituencies.

Addressing a rally at Gogamukh in Dhemaji district, Modi alleged that the Congress “if it comes to power in Assam, will bring in a law to protect infiltrators, which the BJP and its allies will not allow.”

He claimed that before 2014, the Congress “tried to introduce a law at the Centre” but was opposed by the NDA.

He also accused the grand old party of “trying to divide the country as the Muslim League did during Partition”.

“The Congress has also stabbed the Constitution prepared by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Modi said.

“For the Congress, there are two families-one in Delhi and another in Assam, and their priority is the interest of their families and not that of the people,” the PM said. He was alluding to the Gandhi family and that of state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi.

Speaking at another rally at Behali in Biswanath district, Modi alleged that the Congress did “not deliver justice to Assam’s resources”, while the “BJP is utilising the state’s diverse assets for its development”.

He accused the Congress of being “opposed to development and ‘bhrastachar ki janani’ (mother of corruption)”.

“They (Congress) have compromised Assam’s ‘aatma’ (soul), ‘shaan’ (pride), ‘pehchan’ (identity) and ‘suraksha’ (security),” Modi alleged.

He also charged the Congress with encouraging infiltrators to “settle on sattras, namghars and temple land parcels in various districts of the state to create a vote bank”.

“The BJP has taken action in this regard,” he said.