GUWAHATI: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said only BJP can free Assam of illegal migrants, Congress on Sunday sought to know how many non-nationals were deported from the state in five years of NDA rule.“The PM said he came to the state with report cards of what the government did for Assam in five years. The PM, in his 2014 election campaign, promised that Bangladeshis will have to pack their bags after May 16. What happened to that promise? Will Modi tell us how many foreigners were deported in five years?,” asked former CM Tarun Gogoi.Gogoi said the BJP goverment at the Centre did not take any initiative to revive the two paper mills of the state, leaving the employees in the lurch. “We want our youths to be engineers and scientists. But Modi wants everyone to be a a chowikidar. If everyone becomes a chowkidar, what is the use of police, CBI, ED and other enforcement agencies?” he asked.State Congress president Ripun Bora said the PM, during his two election rallies at Moran and Gohpur on Saturday, steered clear of the controversial citizenship issue. “Instead of freeing the state from non-nationals, the BJP government at the Centre tried to give citizenship to foreigners by bringing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Though the bill could not make it through in Parliament, the danger for Assam still remains as BJP president Amit Shah had earlier said his party will pursue it again if it comes back to power,” he added.Reminding that Shah had described the 40 lakh people excluded from the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) as ‘infiltrators’ even though many among them were genuine Indian citizens, Bora said, “Look at the irony. BJP wants to bring foreigners and give them citizenship through the citizenship bill. On the other hand, Shah says all the 40 lakh people excluded from draft NRC are infiltrators. The five years of Modi government failed to fulfil the promise of granting ST status to six communities although it was BJP’s electoral promise in the 2014 LS and 2016 assembly polls. Is this the report card Modi wants to give to the people of Assam?”Taking a jibe at Modi for his remarks that Congress hates ‘chaiwalas’, the Congress leader added that if the PM is a ‘chaiwala’ in the true sense, what prevented the BJP-led government in the state from giving Rs 351 as minimum wage for tea garden workers. The state government, in July last year, had announced an interim wage increment of Rs 30.“As a chaiwala, Modi should make it clear what was the Centre’s share of contribution to the tea research facility at Tocklai (in Jorhat) in the last five years. The facility is in dire straits because of funds crunch,” Bora said.The Congress president also took potshots at the BJP government over the floods and erosion problem in the state.

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