GUWAHATI
The Bharatiya Janata Party ensured the legal ownership of land for the bhoomiputra (sons of the soil) of Assam, and secured their future unlike the parties now in Opposition, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal said at a party workers’ meeting in eastern Assam’s Naharkatiya on March 22.
He also said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was inspired by the governance of Swargadeo Sukapha, the founder of the Ahom dynasty to unite Assam and the region beyond.
Urging party workers to encourage the people to continue to support the vision of a ‘viksit Bharat’ through a developed Assam, Mr. Sonowal slammed Congress for their misrule of more than 60 years.
“Congress governments failed to deliver security to Assam, failed to curb corruption, and failed to usher development for more than six decades. Nothing could be achieved without a popular movement, be it a bridge, or a refinery, or socio-cultural rights of indigenous people of Assam,” he said.
“People were deprived of the welfare that the government schemes were supposed to deliver. Now, under the Modi government, there has been a conscious effort to deliver welfare to the people,” he added.
At another meeting of Asom Gana Parishad, a partner of the ruling BJP in Assam, Mr. Sonowal said the BJP-led government ensured the protection of rhinos by evicting illegal settlers from Kaziranga National Park since 2016 and freed the satras – Vaishnav monasteries – from illegal encroachment.
The indigenousness and ethos of the bhoomiputra were under threat until the BJP ensured the protection of their land and the local socio-cultural institutions, he said.
Mr. Sonowal claimed the BJP government has been working day and night to bring development to Assam and the rest of the northeast neglected by Congress for decades.
“Any baseless allegation by the Opposition will fall flat in the court of the people. It is miserable to see the Opposition parties joining hands with Congress to aspire for a position of power when the same Congress led to the compromise of the identity of Assamese,” he said.
“The people of Assam have not forgotten the dark days of Congress and how it betrayed the indigenous interests of the Assamese to secure political dividends,” he added.
