The Opposition Congress on Thursday mounted a strong defence of its alliance with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF in poll-bound Assam by countering the ghuspetiya (infiltration) narrative being fanned by the ruling BJP.

AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala and Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel reacted to the intensifying attacks by senior BJP leaders over the “unholy and anti-Assam” alliance with the AIUDF by asserting it was an attempt by the ruling party to hide its failings in the state.

Most senior BJP leaders — Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, and chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan — have raised the infiltration issue in their poll rallies in Upper Assam where influx remains a touchy subject that had triggered the six-year long Assam movement in 1979.

The movement resulted in the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985 that fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detection and deportation of illegal foreigners from the state.

The BJP regularly accuses the AIUDF of being protectors of infiltrators, especially Muslims from Bangladesh. The BJP claims that the infiltrators are a threat to the culture and identity of Assam.

Surjewala, attending the launch in Guwahati of the Congress’s campaign song for the three-phase Assembly elections from March 27, said there were two aspects to the alliance-ghuspetiya narrative.

“Since the Sarbananda Sonowal government has not done anything in five years, they are now concerned about our mahajot (grand alliance).… Their job is to divide…. They are like students who don’t study through the year but blame the teacher who has set the question papers,” he said.

“Then there is this ‘threat to national security’ and the ghuspetiya issue.… Can I ask Modiji and Amitji, whose government is it for the past six years? For nearly seven years, Modiji ki sarkar hai (Modi has been running the government for nearly seven years). Ensuring the security of the country’s border is with Amit Shahji, Rajnath Singhji and Narendra Modiji. This means they have failed, they have not been able to check infiltration. Then give us the government, we will run the government and also stop infiltration,” the Congress spokesperson added.

Baghel, one of the three senior observers tasked with monitoring the Congress’s campaign to regain power in Assam, told The Telegraph from Dibrugarh that the BJP keeps shifting the goalpost according to its own interest.

“If the AIUDF is communal, if the AIUDF is encouraging infiltration, then why has the BJP tied up with it to run the Nagaon and Darrang zilla parishads in Assam? Since they have nothing to show, they are fanning all kinds of lies. They will talk about ghuspetiyas but they will not talk about the anti-Assam CAA. They will talk about our alliance with the AIUDF but will not say there are eight other parties in our grand alliance. People have seen through their strategy and will respond through their votes,” Baghel said.

The Congress is leading a 10-party alliance in the Assembly polls.

Both senior leaders said the Congress was countering the BJP’s communal and infiltration narrative in its own way by talking about real issues confronting the state.

Surjewala and Baghel said the BJP would divide and the Congress would unite.

“Woh todenge, hum jodenge. The BJP will divide, we will unite. They will destroy, we will build. They will hide behind allegations, we will move ahead with development. They will rob one of job and food, we will move ahead with our five guarantees.… They will attack Assam’s culture, we will discharge our responsibility by not allowing the implementation of the CAA. This is the difference between the Congress and the BJP,” Surjewala said.

The Congress posed 10 questions to Prime Minister Modi, who visited Karimganj in south Assam to address a poll rally. “On behalf of about 3.5 crore people, we want Narendra Modi to answer our 10 questions,” Surjewala said.

The questions include:

⚫ What happened to the Majuli bridge announced by Modi on March 26, 2016?

⚫ What happened to the expressway, announced by the government in 2017, on both banks of the Brahmaputra to be built at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore?

⚫ Why do you want to harm the original identity, culture and civilisation of Assam? Modi promised to implement the CAA in Bengal but not in Tamil Nadu. Why is Modi silent in the context of Assam? Why this double standard in Assam?

⚫ What about all the announcements Modi made to get votes?

⚫ The BJP has made Assam the “hub” of child trafficking. Half of the total number of trafficking cases reported in India is from Assam. How will Modi answer questions on growing crimes against women?

⚫ Modi is talking negatively about the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in Bengal but has stopped referring to the scheme in BJP-ruled states. Modi had promised to the public of Assam that out of 63.25 lakh rural families, 59 lakh would get water under the Jal Jeevan scheme, but after three years why are 56 lakh families still deprived? Why are the people of Assam being deceived like this?

⚫ At the community health centers in rural Assam, the number of physicians, specialist doctors for women and children, and surgeons should be 708, but only 136 are available. Why are the people of Assam being cheated?