The Congress came down heavily on the BJP-led Assam government saying that the “so-called double-engine” government” has “turned out to be double-CM government with both moving in opposite directions”.

The development of Assam under the BJP government, which has been in power in the state for the last 5 years now, has “ended up going nowhere”, the party said in a statement.

The statement, issued jointly by All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Prof. Gourav Vallabh, MP Abdul Khaleque and Bobbeeta Sharma, chairperson of Assam PCC, said, “True to its character, the BJP government has grossly mismanaged the social, economic and public governance in the state.”

The statement said, “what started as a vision document full of promises that they were never committed to fulfil, their leaders have over the last few weeks, resorted to lies and deceit to whitewash their actions of misgovernance and paint a fair picture of their inactions”.

Congress alleged that the BJP leaders throughout the last 5 years used “communal divide as a tool to polarize the voters of Assam”.

“Assam, which is a land of Srimanta Sankardeva who propagated an inclusive society, the BJP has been working overtime to destroy the social fabric of Assam,” the statement said.

The party, which ruled Assam for 15 years under the leadership of late Tarun Gogoi, said, “The BJP has been boasting of close co-ordination between the central and the state government over the development efforts in Assam, the reality is completely different.”

“The Centre and state have been incapable, incompetent and indifferent towards the plight of the Assamese people and all efforts have only been directed towards photo-ops,” it alleged.

Alleging that the BJP has “led the state into decline” in all key development indicators, Congress stated: “The BJP government has not only been completely indifferent towards building an infrastructure to withstand damage against natural disasters like floods and earthquakes.”

The party stated that close to 1 crore people in the state were affected by the rampaging floods in 2020, but “the BJP leaders were all caught in hiding”.

It also claimed the BJP government took 2 years to come up with a shoddy industrial development scheme – the North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS).

The BJP government has failed to “propose an exclusive industrial policy for the Northeast”.

“As per the 227th Report of the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, only 33 paise per capita was allocated for Assam in 2019-20 (Rs.1 crore in total) under the North East Industrial Development Scheme and during 2019, Assam accounted for only 0.73 percent of the large industrial units established in the country,” the statement said.

It also alleged: “Out of 36 states and UTs combined, Assam ranked 20th in the Business Reform Action Plan Results 2019 indicating no concrete reforms initiated by the Assam BJP government.”

The Congress also attacked the BJP-led government for its failure to generate employment.

“As per CMIE data, the unemployment rate in Assam in December 2020 was 7.6%, higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.5%. This is a result of negligence on the part of the BJP government in the last 5 years. No tailored policy push for Northeast, no incentives for industries to set shops has led to a complete paralysis in the employment generation process,” it said.

The opposition party said against the promise of 9 new medical colleges in Assam, one high-tech 500 bed hospital in every district, “the BJP government has deceived the Assamese people with foundation laying ceremony happening a month before the elections”.

Shortage of trained medical manpower and poor state of healthcare facilities indicate complete neglect in the last 5 years, it said.

The opposition party also lashed out at the BJP-led government saying that it has failed to deliver on its promise of setting up 30 ITIs and an IIM.

“NITI Aayog has recently released the India Innovation Index 2020. Out of 27 States and 9 UTs, Assam is ranked 29th. This speaks of the State’s overall pathetic performance in education – especially higher education and research – science and technology sector, industrial and employment sector,” the statement said.