Assam chief minister and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi on Friday hit back at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and said all those, whom Modi had yesterday termed Bangladeshis, are in fact “Indian citizens.”
“Modi said he will free Assam from Bangladesh. I say, even if one thousand Modis come, they can’t as all these people are Indian citizens,” said Gogoi on Friday.
Modi, while campaigning for the BJP in Assam yesterday, had said the Congress was silent on illegal Bangladeshi immigration and both Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a pro-Muslim party led by Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, will transform Assam into Bangladesh soon.
Gogoi said Modi came to divide Assam on communal line.
“Advani, Modi, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj are all misleading the people. During their rule, what did they do for Assam? Why don’t they say that,” said Gogoi.
Recalling an incident, when Swaraj had refused to grant funds for development of medical colleges in Assam during the then NDA rule, Gogoi said “they all are now shedding crocodile tears for Assam.”
“When Sushma Swaraj was the health minister during the NDA government, I went to her demanding funds for our medical colleges but she didn't oblige. Now she comes and speaks a lot about developing Assam. They are all misleading the people,” said Gogoi.
Gogoi also criticised BJP Gogoi also criticised BJP for speaking of getting Assam rid of corruption as the party earlier was in alliance the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), whose leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is an accused in Letter of Credit (LoC) scam.
“To find solution to all our problems, we will have to strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh,” said Gogoi while speaking at an election rally in Guwahati.
