A special delegates’ meeting of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) was held in Morigaon under the initiative of the Morigaon District Congress Committee on Sunday.
Organised to discuss the current alarming situation in the country and the state, the meeting was attended by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Gaurav Gogoi, besides several party leaders, including former Ministers, MPs and legislators.
Extensive discussions were held during the meeting regarding strengthening the organisational base, raising public awareness against the government’s injustice and oppression, and formulating strategies for the upcoming by-elections.
Addressing the meeting, Pradesh Congress president Gaurav Gogoi stated that even though the last election results were not in their favour, the Congress has never conceded defeat.
Observing that a meeting initially called only for block and mandal presidents transformed into a massive workers’ convention due to the immense enthusiasm and presence of party workers, he stated that Congress would always stand alongside the common people and the youth of Assam to keep democratic values alive.
Sharply criticising the arrogance of the BJP government, the APCC president said that under the pressure of the historic movement by the student-youth community and the public, the government—which considered itself all-powerful—was forced to make the Union Education Minister resign.
“This proves that the BJP government is not invincible, and its fall before the unity of the people is inevitable,” he said.
Gogoi strongly condemned the lathi charge on protesting students in Delhi and the use of the police administration in Assam to threaten and intimidate party workers. He made it clear that committed Congress workers will not bow down to any threat or intimidation.
Highlighting a grim picture of the state’s current scenario, Gogoi pointed out that 20,000 government schools lack boundary walls in the education sector, venture school teachers are forced into situations leading to suicide, model hospitals lack doctors and X-ray machine technicians, irrigation facilities are missing for farmers, and the burden of LPG and GST price hikes has overburdened the public.
He alleged that all government funds and businesses are confined strictly among Guwahati-based industrialists and big contractors.
Meanwhile, sharply criticising the attempt to recognise Hindi as an official language in the Legislative Assembly, Gaurav Gogoi stated that if any language other than Assamese, English and Bodo were to be recognised, it should have been Tiwa, Karbi, or other indigenous tribal languages.
Stating that indigenous tribes have no place for their traditions, culture, and language in the BJP’s “One Nation, One Religion, One Language” ideology, he alleged that the primary objective of the government is to deprive tribal people of their land rights and hand those lands over to industrialists.
Announcing that district, block, and mandal presidents will play a crucial role in deciding tickets for the upcoming Panchayat or Municipal elections, he called upon every worker and leader to unite and build public opinion against the BJP government’s misrule through street struggles.
