Effigies of Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pijush Hazarika Burnt in Silchar, Youth Congress Criticises No Special Package for Assam in Budget

In a heated demonstration, the Cachar District Youth Congress set fire to the effigies of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Assam’s Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika. This act was carried out in protest against the recent budget and in response to an attack on Central Youth Congress President Srinivas BV in Bihar.

Today, the protest began with a procession from the Silchar District Congress office, culminating at Park Road Point where the effigies were ignited. The Youth Congress workers voiced their discontent, particularly highlighting the severe impact of the 2022 floods which devastated Silchar. They criticized the current budget for allocating special packages to other states while neglecting Assam’s need for flood aid.

Ranajit Debnath, Youth Congress President of Cachar, expressed his frustration, stating, “In the recently passed budget, we have seen special packages to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh but even after the worst floods in history in 2022 in Cachar, the government made no such considerations for Assam. Two years have passed and people are still recovering from the losses. The Chief Minister keeps on doing politics in the name of religion and community. He is a useless Chief Minister. Bihar’s Chief Minister from the Janata Dal (United) can get a special package being an alliance partner of the NDA but our CM, even after being from the BJP, fails to get any assistance.”

Debnath also took a dig at the Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, recalling a recent visit where Hazarika promised swift action on Shibbari Road, which has yet to materialize. “Pijush Hazarika came here last month and at Shibbari Road he announced some type of corridor which will fix all the problems. There he said the work would start in 10 days. After his ’10 days promise’, he visited Barak Valley another 10 times but the work has not yet started. The entire Barak Valley and Assam will give a fitting reply to the BJP.”

Anchar Hussain Barlaskar, Chairman of the Minority Cell of Cachar District Congress Committee, added, “CM of Assam and Minister Pijush Hazarika make rounds of Barak Valley and the only work they do here is photoshoots and selfie sessions. We have seen waves of floods and taking advantage of the flood situations, they come here for social media frenzy but the people of Barak get nothing out of it. More than seven people died in the last floods in Cachar alone, and none of them were compensated. That is why we have burned the effigies of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pijush Hazarika. In the upcoming Panchayat and Assembly elections, the people of Cachar and the whole Barak will respond to the BJP by voting them out.”

The demonstration gathered wide participation from Congress and Youth Congress members while bringing the traffic at the Park Road Point to a standstill, while the cops tried to douse off the fire.