“Sankalp Yatra won’t omit the dark history of the Murderers of Mahatma Gandhi,” Sushmita Dev

Mahila Congress President and former Silchar MP, Sushmita Dev took a jibe at BJP’s Sankalp Yatra. On October 2, 2019, while celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Union Minister, Amit Shah flagged off the ‘Sankalp Yatra’. All BJP legislators have been mandated to do “padayatras” (foot march) in their constituencies. The BJP unit of Barak Valley, like in the entire country are marching in several parts. 

Dev questioned the values of those who are now doing the ‘Sankalp Yatra’. She said, “The country is aware of the history of BJP and RSS.” She added, “The ones who murdered Mahatma Gandhi are now wearing caps and Khadi kurtas and doing Gandhi Sankalp Yatra. Sankalp Yatra won’t omit the dark history of the murderers of Mahatma Gandhi.”

As a part of the “Gandhi Sankalp Yatra”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the legislators to aware the mass about the demerits of single-use-plastic. Along with that, they are also told to talk with the mass about the importance of domestic production, something Mahatma Gandhi promoted aggressively.

Dev accused BJP of not following any of these values in this region. “The ones who are talking about domestic production, I want to ask them why is BJP not able to revive Cachar Paper Mill. It is the only industrial centre that we have in this region,” she questioned.

She took a jibe at Narendra Modi too, “The Prime Minister spends crores and crores of money advertising Swacch Bharat in India and the Municipality Board in Silchar fails to spend the fund allocated. Deputy Commissioner had to intervene and start the waste management project.”

Dev cited recent incidents in Barak Valley and questioned if those actions align with Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence belief. “Whenever something happens in Silchar, we see people raising Ram slogans and vandalising public and private properties and call for bandh. I want to ask them if that is a non-violent approach,” she asked.

She concluded by asking the BJP lawmakers, “Pandit Nehru spent nine years in jail while fighting for independence, freedom. Which BJP or RSS leader went to jail fighting the British?”