Bhupesh Baghel equates BJP govt to colonial British reign, claims 'Cong can unite India'

Campaigning in poll-bound Assam on Thursday, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel hit out at the ruling BJP administration in the state and likened the saffron party to the colonial British reign. Drawing comparisons with the British rulers, CM Baghel remarked that the BJP has also adopted 'divisive policies' to rule the country and serve its own interests, adding that the party was out to 'destroy' peace and harmony in Assam. Banking on the legacy of Mahatama Gandi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, he claimed that Congress is the only party that can bind the people of the country with the 'thread of unity'. 

"Much like the British rulers, who had adopted divisive policies to rule the country and serve their own interests, the BJP is trying to create divisions between the people of Assam on the basis of language, religion, colour, clothes and food habit. We are not afraid of any conspiracy hatched by the BJP," Baghel said during his rally in Majuli on Thursday. 

The senior Congress leader also promised that the party would create nearly 25 lakh jobs and provide 200 units of electricity for free to people across the state if voted to power. He also reiterated the party's poll promise of providing Rs 2,000 as an allowance for every housewife in the state and increasing the daily wage of tea garden workers. 

BJP questions Congress' alliance

Congress face stern opposition from the ruling BJP government in Assam which is set to go for polls in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6. Eyeing a return to power, Congress has stitched a grand alliance with the BPF, AGM, AIUDF, CPI, CPI(M), and CPI(ML). The BJP has targetted Congress' alliance with the AIUDF, with several senior leaders levelling charges of promoting infiltration against chief Badruddin Ajmal. 

Shunning the objections raised by the BJP, the Congress has said that the saffron party was prominently raking up its alliance with the AIUDF to communalise Assam polls as they have nothing to show on the development front. Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has said the BJP government in Assam was engaged only in spreading hatred, dividing society and breaking brotherhood during its five years tenure and "did nothing" on the development front. 

"In Assam, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal did nothing in five years and so the BJP leaders are raising Congress- AIUDF alliance. They are trying to communalise it and make it an election issue," he added. The Congress spokesperson alleged that he BJP government is trying to hide behind the issue of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) joining the Grand Alliance as it failed on every front.