“Beyond Kaziranga”: Congress launches fresh attack on PM Modi amid Assam visit

New Delhi [India], March 9 (ANI): Congress on Saturday took a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Assam’s Kaziranga National Park stating that the iconic national park owes much to the “great interest shown both by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.”

“We’re glad that the Prime Minister has found time amidst his various travels to spend today morning in Kaziranga, an iconic national park, which owes much to the great interest shown both by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. However, beyond Kaziranga, here are four questions for him on the increasingly disturbed situation in different parts of the northeast of India,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on social media platform X today.

The questions to the PM ranged from the India-China border situation, the Manipur crisis, the situation in eastern Nagaland and the “re-emergence of separatist groups” in Assam.

PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Assam that began on Friday.

The Congress leader said that at the all-party meeting on China On June 19, 2020, the Prime Minister declared that not a single Chinese soldier had crossed over into Indian territory.

“By giving a public clean chit to China, the Prime Minister has tied his own hands, and failed to take action to restore the status quo after Chinese aggression. Chinese troops continue to deny Indian citizens access to grazing lands and Indian patrols access to strategic spots along the LAC, where they previously had unimpeded access. There have been multiple instances of PLA troops kidnapping Indian citizens on Indian soil,” the Congress leader alleged.

“During the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Itanagar, @RahulGandhi also met the family of Tapor Pullom, who has been missing since he was allegedly abducted by the PLA in 2015. Modiji, bhul gaye kya? Were you lying to the people back then?”, he alleged in his post.

Lashing out at the government over the ongoing ethnic strife in Manipur, he said, “Why has the Prime Minister, ordinarily misusing taxpayer’s money to campaign around the country, not found the time to visit Manipur yet, or even take a call with the Chief Minister and the political parties of the state? Is he waiting for the people of India to buy him a ticket to Imphal?”

“The Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organization (ENPO) has declared a “public emergency” in Eastern Nagaland — threatening to disallow any political party from campaigning or contesting elections in the region — to protest the delay in the creation of a ‘Frontier Nagaland Territory,” Jairam Ramesh said.

“Even as the situation becomes increasingly tense and threatens to disrupt the rule of law and democracy in Nagaland, the Union Government appears to be missing in action,” the Congress leader said in his post.

The Congress leader further asked what steps Modi Sarkar was taking to “defuse” the situation “brewing” in eastern Nagaland today?

His post added, “This is not a new development: we have seen Modi Sarkar previously obscure the political situation of Nagaland with the 2015 Naga Accord, which has not even been released to the public, much less implemented. What steps is the Modi Sarkar taking to defuse the situation brewing in eastern Nagaland today?,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress leader added that three labourers working in a stone quarry in Cachar, Assam, in December 2023 were abducted by the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF).

“There has been a disturbing re-emergence of separatist groups emboldened to disrupt the lives of common people and enact their reign of terror. When faced with this renewed violence, why is Modi Sarkar sitting on its hands?” Jiaram Ramesh alleged in his post.