BJP will make Assam flood-free in five years: Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asked people of Assam to vote for BJP again and promised to make the state flood free in the next five years.

"We want to make Assam flood free...Modiji wants to make Assam flood free. People of Assam has to face the wrath of flood every year. The work in this regard has started. Satellite mapping is underway to identify places where water can be diverted to create big big lakes for irrigation and to make them into tourism centres. So vote BJP to power again, we will bring relief from flood in the next five years," Shah said while addressing the gathering at Batadrava, the birth place of Srimanta Sankardeb, the neo-Vaishnavite saint of 15th century, in central Assam's Nagaon district.

Shah's promise about solving flood problem comes after Congress-led "grand alliance" of six opposition parties asked on Monday why Prime Minister Modi was silent on solving Assam's long flood problem. Modi on Monday had addressed a gathering at Silapathar in Dhemaji, a flood-affected district in North Assam but did not say anything about flood.

Foreigner free Assam:

Claiming that BJP and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) can only solve the infiltration problem in Assam, Shah asked, "Can Congress stop infiltration when they are sitting with Badruddin Ajmal? They are sitting with Ajmal and talking about stoping infiltration. Can they stop killing of the rhinos in Assam?"

Read: Amit Shah talks of making Assam, northeast biggest contributor to India's GDP

Shah's jibe at Congress comes at a time when the "grand alliance" has made CAA its biggest poll plank against BJP. They have been alleging that BJP would destroy identity of the Assam's ethnic communities by offering citizenship to large number of post-1971 Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, through the CAA.

Alleging that Congress did nothing to solve Assam's problems, Shah said what BJP-led government did for Assam in the past five years, Congress could not do in 70 years.

Talking about the two new parties, which came into being out of the anti-CAA agitation (Assam Jatiya Parishad and Raijor Dal), Shah said, "Their purpose is to cut votes of BJP and help Congress win. Congress government had opened fire on those who were fighting against the foreigners during the Assam Agitation (1979-1985), and now unfortunately they are helping Congress. People of Assam are not fools. They knows only BJP and AGP can stop infiltration and bring development. The process of real development in the entire Northeast has started during Modiji's tenure," Shah said.

"We will make Assam number 1 state in the country (in terms of development) in five years," Shah further promised.