Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have hit back at Rahul Gandhi after the Congress president tweeted that his party had managed to wake up the Assam and Gujarat chief ministers to grant farm loan waivers and will rouse a sleeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi too.
“The Congress party has managed to wake the CMs of Assam & Gujarat from their deep slumber. PM is still asleep. We will wake him up too,” said a tweet posted on Rahul’s twitter’s handle on Sunday.
Soon after, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal replied, “Mr Gandhi, this attempt to take credit on an issue that is related to the livelihood and development of farmers is quite frivolous. You have no moral right to talk about Assam or its farmers. Everyone knows how your successive governments in Assam looted the resources meant for farmers.”
“As you seem to be interested in claiming credit for some of Assam government’s decisions I request you to take credit for all misdeeds, corruption and loot that had perpetuated all these decades under Congress rule, thus depriving the people of Assam in general and farmers in particular,” Sonowal added.
“Narendra Modi ji doesn’t need a certificate from you and your party. The enormous development that Modi ji has brought to the lives of the common people in just four years is something your family didn’t care to achieve in the last six decades,” said another tweet by Sonowal.
Sarma also joined Sonowal in attacking Rahul’s tweet: “Rahul Ji, Assam government has not announced any debt waiver scheme. We are offering 25% subsidy on short-term agricultural loan along with full interest subvention. These schemes will continue, unlike a one-time loan waiver. Completely opposite to your idea.”
According to Sarma, the state government had announced these schemes for farmers to commemorate 125 years of the agrarian uprising against the British at Assam’s Patharughat (now in Darrang district) in 1894 and he had mentioned about these schemes in his budget 10 months ago.
“You (Rahul) have failed to respect our sentiments by linking it to petty politics,” Sarma added.
In another development, the Assam Congress on Thursday asked its district and block committees to launch a statewide protest on Friday against Sonowal’s alleged unsavoury comments on the party and its president.
PCC spokesperson Prafulla Kumar Das said Sonowal described the Congress as a “beiman” (dishonest) party during a news conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
He also said that Rahul’s “dream of becoming the Prime Minister would never be fulfilled”.
The protest will be held at Rajiv Bhawan here at 11am.
About an hour after Sonowal spoke to reporters, PCC president Ripun Bora held a news meet to counter Sonowal.
“We strongly condemn Sonowal’s comment. Such an unparliamentary word does not fit a chief minister,” he said.
The BJP’s Dima Hasao committee on Thursday submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind alleging that Rahul had humiliated democratic institutions.
The memorandum demanded removal of Rahul as MP for allegedly misleading the people on the Rafale deal.
Additional reporting by Suroj Barman in Haflong
