Sushmita Dev campaigns in the tea belt; Congress Zindabaad echoes in Koomber Tea Estate 

The candidates contesting in the upcoming general elections to Lok Sabha are doing their best to communicate their messages to the voters. Congress candidate contesting from Silchar MP Sushmita Dev today along with veteran Congress politician Ajit Singh went to Koomber tea estate in Kumbhirgram. 

Dev used the occasion to communicate about Congress’ minimum income guarantee which ensures the poor will get Rs 72,000 in their bank account. On March 25, Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced that if voted to power at the Centre, the government would unconditionally give 20 per cent of the country’s poorest of poor households a sum of Rs 72,000 annually or Rs 6,000 every month. He claimed the Congress’s Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), or minimum income guarantee (MIG) scheme, would benefit 50 million households or approximately 250 million people assuming five members per family.

Dev said Congress is the party for poor raising people from rags while BJP only takes care of the riches and weaves off loans of defaulting industrialists. She spoke about the various works Congress did in the past, highlighting initiatives around food, education and road constructions, “It is Congress that ensured each of your kids get access to education, healthcare and other necessities. What did the BJP do? What is this Beti Padhao Beti Bachao, did any of you present here get any benefits from that? That is nothing but PM Modi’s way of spending Rs 400 crore in advertising,” she said while addressing the tea garden workers.

She also took the opportunity to take a jibe at the Forest and Environment, Fishery and Excise Minister of Assam Parimal Suklabaidya. She reminded the tea garden workers about the hooch tragedy in Golaghat where more than 150 died due to consuming illicit liquor. “How did the illicit liquor reach the tea estate which killed so many people? What was the minister and BJP government doing? It is due to the minister’s lack of awareness so many people lost their lives,” she added.

She ended her speech by asking the present audience to vote for Congress in the upcoming elections.