Guwahati, July 17: Reacting sharply to the Assam visit of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Minister and BJP leader Pabitra Margherita accused them of being political tourists with no real commitment to the people of the Northeast.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Margherita said that while Assam welcomes guests who visit for spiritual or scenic reasons, it has no patience for lectures on peace or development from the Congress. “If they’ve come to seek blessings at Kamakhya, Bagala, or enjoy Kaziranga and Manas — we welcome them. But if they’ve come to preach progress, we’re not ready to listen,” he declared.
The minister slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for what he called repeated insults to smaller northeastern states, recalling Kharge’s remarks after Congress’s electoral defeats in Tripura and Nagaland. He also accused Kharge of belittling Assam’s pride, Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, by referring to him as just an “ordinary singer.”
“How can we expect respect for Assam from someone who disrespects its icons?” Margherita questioned.
He challenged the Congress leaders to visit the semiconductor project site near Nellie — a region haunted by the 1983 massacre, which occurred during Congress rule. “Congress must first apologise for the brutal killing of 855 young Assamese during the Assam Agitation,” he said.
Listing BJP’s achievements in contrast, Margherita highlighted the doubling of rail and road connectivity, tripling of bridges over the Brahmaputra, creation of medical colleges in every district, 1.5 lakh government jobs, the women-focused Orunodoi scheme, and a drop in insurgency-related deaths and rhino poaching. “If they want to see this change, they’re welcome. But from Congress, we expect nothing,” he said.
Assam BJP chief spokesperson Kishore Kumar Upadhyay echoed the criticism at a press meet in Bhashishta Chariali, calling the Congress visit “a show.” He questioned why Assam Congress leaders praised Gandhi and Kharge as “great leaders,” arguing that their actions, speeches, and priorities show no concern for the Northeast.
Upadhyay pointed to what he called a history of betrayal by Congress, including their alleged disrespect toward Bhupen Hazarika during his Bharat Ratna recognition, denial of land rights to indigenous Assamese, and failure to protect monastic institutions like Satras.
He claimed that under Congress rule, over 15,000 bighas of land belonging to Satras were encroached by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and warned that constituency after constituency — from Dhubri to Lakhimpur — is falling to demographic shifts enabled by Congress’s politics.
According to him, the number of Bengali-speaking Muslim MLAs in Assam rose from 21 in 2001 to 31 in 2021 — a change he attributes to Congress’s “appeasement politics.” He cited a staggering figure: 63.5 lakh bighas of land under encroachment during the party’s decades-long rule.
He also invoked the 2012 murder of young Satradhikar Devendranath Goswami by suspected illegal immigrants, demanding to know when Congress would apologise for what he described as “the disasters they’ve gifted to Assam.”
