Assam hoping BJP will live up to promises

By Aditya Baruah

Guwahati, May 19 (IANS) With the BJP making it to Dispur, people in Assam will now be watching the change that the saffron party has promised to win the hearts of the majority of the people in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been trying hard for the last few years to make inroads into India's northeast, has not only assured to end the existing corruption in Assam under the Congress rule but also to bring change and development and give employment to the youth of the region and end infiltration from Bangladesh by sealing the Indo-Bangladesh border.

"The people of Assam have been frustrated at the corruption of the Congress government, particularly in the last term of the government under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Although the Congress had also assured to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border and give employment to the people in 2001, nothing much changed in the three terms under the Congress government," Ananta Hazarika, a resident of Guwahati in Assam, told IANS.

"Although there is no charge of any corruption against the chief minister, yet I feel that he had failed to control the ministers in his cabinet who had developed an indifferent attitude towards the problems and issues of the people," he said, adding that people have responded to the appeal of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoping that there would be real development in Assam and that youth will get employment.

"The BJP's win means a lot to Assam. The Bangladeshi infiltration has not stopped even though 30 years have elapsed since the signing of the Assam Accord. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh have assured that the Indo-Bangladesh border will be sealed to end the problem of infiltration," Rakesh Thakur, a resident of Central Assam's Nagaon district, told IANS while expressing hope that people like him will get employment now.

"The prime minister during his visits to the northeast often tells that the northeast has tremendous potential for development and has assured to create employment opportunities for the youth. There are over 23 lakh unemployed youth in Assam at present and each one of them is looking at the prime minister and BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Assam Sarbananda Sonowal in the days to come," Thakur said.

He said that the BJP-led government at the Centre had taken many steps soon after coming to power. "We hope the new government in Assam will take concrete steps for overall development of Assam and other part of the region," he added.

While the anti-incumbency factor affected the ruling Congress negatively in Assam during this poll, the saffron party had also played on the issues of illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, unemployment and lack of development in the region to win over the people.