In response to a survey conducted by a leading Indian magazine, which revealed that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's popularity has plummeted, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chairman of the Media Department MLA Bharat Narah on Saturday cited 17 major reasons for the BJP government's failure in the state.
Addressing the media here at Rajiv Bhawan, Guwahati, MLA Narah said, “The survey says that, Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s work was appreciated by 68.0% of the people in the month of January this year. But in the month of August, this figure went down to 49.2%. With this, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma emerged as the chief minister who registered the worst popularity dip in the country, with a slump of 19% in his popularity rating. In the same way there are reasons for a spurt in popularity, there are also reasons for a dip in such popularity.”
Delving into the reasons for this slump in his popularity, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has identified the main reasons for the slump in CM Sarma’s popularity among the people. These same reasons are also likely to cause a further dip in his popularity rating, the APCC chairman of Media department stresses.
The 17 reasons for the BJP government’s failure cited by him in the press meet are:
1. The CM’s communal policy.
2. Pushing Assam further into the debt trap.
3. Failure to check price rise.
4. Failure to resolve the employment problem.
5. Failing to check corruption.
6. Withdrawal of Special State status for Assam.
7. Silence on presenting an accurate NRC.
8. Not implementing the report by the Justice Biplab Sharma Committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
9. Failure to check floods and soil erosion.
10. Not including Assam’s 6 communities in the ST category.
11. Support to big dams.
12. Non-withdrawal of Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
13. Failure to resolve boundary issues with neighbouring states.
14. Failure in getting investment in the Industries and Commerce sector.
15. Political motivation in Delimitation of Constituencies.
16. Conducting haphazard eviction drives without alternative arrangements in place, and
17. Indiscriminate setting up of Toll Gates.
Apart from the above-mentioned reasons, the APCC media department chairman also listed several other failures of the BJP govt that has led to the fall in the popularity ratings. Among them, he said that in spite of the constant harping on zero tolerance to corruption, clean and transparent appointment, the BJP government has set up a big market for jobs and this is being conducted from the premises of the Vajpayee Bhawan.
He asserted that BJP followers are collecting three lakhs rupees for every job and giving two and half lakhs of this to the higher-ups. These facts have emerged from their own mouths, he asserted.
The inside of the BJP is wracked by a confrontation between the old guards and new entrants to the party and these fights are getting people fed up with them.
To take forward its communal agenda, the BJP has developed a secret understanding with another communal force- the AIUDF. The people are aware of this, he said.
“The BJP government is fleecing the power consumers of the state through the smart meters installed by the APDCL. The people cannot accept this and it is natural for them in getting fed up with the authorities,” added MLA Narah.
He also alleged that being busy with the city-centred infrastructure development; the BJP government has overtly ignored the development of the rural infrastructure.
“In the developments works in the city also, there is no concern about the convenience of the people or a scientific and modern approach to construction activities and the CM has given plum contracts to his near and dear ones- a fact that has not escaped the notice of the people in urban and rural areas. The BJP government has also failed to make Guwahati a smart city. According to a survey by the central government’s Smart City Mission, Indore comes in first place, Surat in second place and Agra is in third place.Guwahati features among the worst ten cities in the Smart City Mission list. Those aware of this are not pleased at all. Moreover, the people are also angry with the BJP government’s plan to put 3 lakh 28 thousand hectares under palm tree cultivation. One palm tree can consume as much as 300 litres of water daily and we are very likely to face a water crisis due to this. Due to drying up of water reserves, Assam will soon slowly turn into a desert,” Narah stressed.
Notably, it is rumoured that these plantations will be done by Adani and Ramdev, thus, such skewed developments will not be accepted by the people, stated Narah.
Narah also pointed out that inappropriate behavior towards officers and employees by the CM in public, as well as unacceptable social comments by him on different occasions has also affected his popularity.
Apart from the aforementioned reasons, according to the chairman, the Syndicate Raj being run with the blessing of the government, ignoring the laws of the land, lowering the price of tea garden land in his (Himanta Biswa Sarma) own or industrialists’ interest- these allegations are also eating into the popularity of the chief minister.
Due to these reasons, chief minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma will lose more popularity and acceptability among the people, the MLA opined.
