Alleging that there was “mafia raj” in Assam, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Wednesday hit out at Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claiming that there were “big allegations against the former Congress leader and when he joined BJP, those allegations vanished”.
Priyanka was campaigning in Gauripur in Assam’s Dhubri for party candidate Rakibul Hussain, who is locked in a triangular contest against sitting MP AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal and BJP-partner and AGP’s Zabed Islam.
Hitting out at Sarma, she said the allegations against him were washed away by the “BJP washing machine”.
“There were big allegations against the CM when he was in the Congress… The moment he joined the BJP, all those allegations vanished,” she said.
During her address, she reached out to women voters and claimed that the BJP has done “nothing for the women”.
“The ones who carry the most burden are women. They go to work, they go to the fields and they go to jobs. Then they come home and look after children, cook food, look after everyone… For them, the BJP government is offering nothing. The truth is you get a ration of 5 kg and along with it Rs 1,200 (under Assam Government’s Orunodoi financial assistance scheme for women). He (PM Narendra Modi) tells you ‘bas chup raho’ (now keep mum)…” she said.
Launching an attack on BJP over atrocities on women, Priyanka highlighted the sexual abuse allegations against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna.
“These people talk of women’s security. You must have seen what is happening in Karnataka. People associated with their party have committed such offences (BJP and JD(S) are in alliance for Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka). Thousands of videos have come out. What do we find? Modiji had campaigned for the person who committed those offences. The offender fled the country and no one stopped him. Neither Modiji nor Amit Shah stopped him. They let him escape. Wherever there have been offences against women, be it Hathras in UP or Unnao, Modiji was silent. Instead they tried to protect the offenders… In Manipur, a jawan’s wife was stripped and paraded. Everyone saw the video. Modiji, Amit Shah also must have seen it. So why were they silent?” she said.
She also said that “the politics going on in the country and in Assam is not for the people”. “Look at Assam’s Chief Minister, and compare him to Chief Ministers of Congress-run states… There is a mafia rule in Assam. Land mafia, supari mafia, sand mafia, coal mafia… wherever your look, there is vasooli (extortion) and mafia raj is going on.”