The BJP’s Tea Morcha president Prahlad Gowala on Sunday alleged that the Congress and the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS) were misleading tea garden labourers about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Talking to the media, Gowala said: “The Congress and the ACMS are two sides of the same coin and these two organisations are spreading false information about CAA among the labourers of the tea gardens in Assam.”

Gowala alleged that the Congress had misled the labourers by saying once CAA was implemented in Assam, lakhs of Bangladeshis would come to the tea gardens and take away their jobs.

“These are Congress’s self-made statements that have created a sense of fear among the labourers,” he added.

Gowala said the Congress should keep itself “out” of the tea gardens.

“The Congress is using the tea garden labourers for vote-bank politics for several years, but the BJP has stopped it now. We have given the labourers many schemes which include development of roads in the gardens as well as scholarship for students.”

Gowala said the BJP government deposited Rs 5,000 in their accounts besides providing them free medicines and giving auto vans to the unemployed youths of the tea gardens. He added that the BJP had launched more pro-labourer schemes than the Congress.

He alleged that the Congress along with the ACMS had tried to mislead the labourers by saying that Rs 5,000 given to each of them was provident fund amount while it was a one-time financial aid.

“Everything the Congress is doing is for vote bank, but we will not let them do so. The Congress is free to protest, but should not spread false information,” he said. “No Bangladeshi can take away the labourers’ jobs because in order to enter a tea garden for any purpose, permission is needed from the garden administration.”

Gowala claimed that the leaders of the ACMS have not done anything for the labourers and instead they are instigating them to leave work and protest for something that is not even true. “The tea garden workers should not at all worry about their jobs and no one can infiltrate into the gardens. There is no need to be afraid of anything,” Gowala said.