Dibrugarh: Stepping up the Congress campaign in Assam, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the ruling BJP, accusing it of running a “double-ghulami (slavery) government” while campaigning for Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia in the Nazira constituency.
Addressing a charged rally in Sivasagar district, Gandhi targeted both the Centre and the Assam government. “The BJP claims it has given a double-engine government. In reality, it is a double-ghulami government. PM Modi is engaged in slavery of the US, and Himanta Biswa Sarma is engaged in slavery of Modi,” she alleged.
The Congress leader also levelled accusations of crony capitalism, claiming that Assam’s natural resources were being systematically handed over to select industrial interests. “One family is looting everything in Assam. And when they are not looting, mines, land and other assets are being handed over to big industrialists,” she said.
Criticising the implementation of welfare schemes, she alleged that beneficiaries, particularly women under the Orunodoi scheme were being coerced into attending political events. “Be it the Prime Minister’s programme or the Chief Minister’s, women are being forced to attend rallies or are threatened with removal from beneficiary lists. That is not how welfare schemes should function,” she said, adding that “public money does not belong to the Chief Minister.”
Highlighting the concerns of tea garden workers, a key voter group in upper Assam, she accused the BJP of failing to fulfil its wage promises. “The BJP had promised Rs 300–350. Even today, workers say only a marginal increase has taken place,” she noted.
Gandhi also outlined five key Congress guarantees, including justice for singer Zubeen Garg within 100 days and financial assistance for women and senior citizens. “The Assam that Zubeen Garg dreamed of—a corruption-free state is within reach if people come together for change,” she said.
Following the rally in Nazira, she was scheduled to address additional public meetings in Tingkhong and Khowang as part of the party’s intensified campaign in upper Assam.