With the assembly elections drawing closer – likely to be held in March-April 2016 – three political parties, Congress, BJP and AGP in Assam have started a new game: of protesting against one another to hog the limelight and draw more mileage. First, it was the BJP state unit that launched an agitation against the ruling Congress government in the state, accusing it of misrule and particularly focusing on the latter’s alleged failure to utilize funds provided by the Centre for providing relief to several lakh people affected in the recent floods in the state. [related-post] The Centre had provided enough funds, but the Congress government had failed to utilize them, the BJP alleged. It organized demonstrations and raised slogans against the Congress government in the state for failure to properly utilize the funds. "The Centre has provided enough funds, but the Congress government has failed to utilize it and provide relief to the flood affected people," said state BJP chief Siddhartha Bhattacharyya. This was promptly reciprocated by the Congress which last week took out protest marches against the BJP government at the Centre. "The BJP government at the Centre has withdrawn funds available to Assam under the special states category. It has not released even one rupee extra for flood relief," hit back chief minister Tarun Gogoi. The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) too have joined the fray, with the regional party complaining against both – the BJP led government at the Centre as well as the Congress government in the state. On Wednesday, hundreds of AGP leaders and members sat on a 28-hour hunger strike opposing the Centre’s decision granting citizenship to Hindus from Bangladesh. “The law of the land says foreigners are foreigners. Then why discriminate them on religious lines? Moreover, Assam has already taken the burden of lakhs of people who came before 1971. Why is the BJP trying to dump more foreigners in Assam when several lakh Bangladeshis identified as foreigners by courts and Tribunals are yet to be deported?” asked AGP president Atul Bora. “The BJP-led government has meted out gross injustice for Assam since it came to power in Delhi. It first handed over portions of Assam’s precious land to Bangladesh. Now it has decided to permit Hindus and other minorities from Bangladesh to come and settle down in Assam,” the AGP president said. Equating the BJP with the Congress and vice-versa, the AGP raised slogans against both parties and said they were two sides of the same coin. "There is no difference between the BJP and Congress as far as Assam’s burning issues are concerned. While the Congress government signed the land-swap treaty with Bangladesh, the BJP, on coming to power actually handed over our land. While the BJP has decided to let Hindus and other minorities from Bangladesh to come in and settle in Assam, the Congress has extended support to it," AGP president Bora said.
