Sonia Gandhi’s Assam visit

Sonia Gandhi’s hurricane visit to Assam to address a Kishan Rally followed by a trail of natural calamities like rain, breach of embankments, flood added woes of the poor farmers already burdened with debt, disease and destitution. Sonia Gandhi appeared as a Messiah of the farmers but she did not utter any word of hope to the farmers of Assam regarding long time solution of the perennial problem of flood which was the main cause of their poverty.. Addressing the Kishan Rally,she talked of price hike in petrol and diesel and patted the back of Chief Minster Tarun Gogoi for readily reducing the sales tax on these items. She talked of global inflation consequent to the rise of crude oil prices and the need for harnessing nuclear energy. Of course the large gathering had very few genuine farmers and therefore these subjects might not appear completely foreign to them. She spoke of the revolutionary step taken by the UPA government in announcing the Rs. 70,000 crore loan waiver for the farmers which would benefit 22 lakh farmers of the State. Regarding flood, a bold declaration from the UPA Chairman Sonia Gandhi that Assam flood would henceforth be treated as a national problem and dealt with in a war footing would have cheered the people of Assam She reiterated the UPA government’s commitment to implement the Assam Accord. However the AASU delegation complained to the Prime Minister that no progress in implementation had been made since the tripartite meeting presided by the Prime Minister on May 5,2005. The Chief Minister took credit for distribution of tractors,powertillers to the farmers and promised to issue rain coats and Japis to them in future. These are cosmetic measures. Farmers in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur have lost their valuable agricultural land due to erosion and breach of embankments. What they would do with rain coat and Japis?Sonia Gandhi’s visit though ostensibly to address a farmers rally to capitalise on the loan waiver scheme, was prompted to put a brake on the downward slide in popularity of the Congress Party after the arrest of Ripun Bora, ex–Education Minister and trusted lieutenant of the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.The arrest of Ripun Bora has opened a Pandora’s Box and opposition parties are baying for blood of a few tainted Ministers. The Congress Party stands divided and a conspiracy by colleagues is alleged to have landed Ripun Bora in CBI net. One MP is making frequent press statements not complimentary to Tarun Gogoi government and embarrassing to the party. Sonia Gandhi’s stand on the issue of tainted Ministers is not known, but it is reported that she had advised the Chief Minister and the APCC president to take all measures and prepare for the election. Unless the party is revamped and Tarun Gogoi is bold enough to axe the tainted Ministers, the BJP-AGP combine would sweep the Lok Sabha poll. Sonia Gandhi as Congress president and Verappa Moily as in charge of Assam Congress have to do a lot to put the Assam Congress in order. Source: assam tribune