BJP won due to false propaganda, claims Assam Congress vice-president

Guwahati: Holding the defeat of Congress in Assam as collective failure of its functionaries, vice president of the party’s state unit on Friday alleged that BJP and its allies won the polls on “false propaganda of identity crisis”. [caption id=“attachment_2791672” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ripun Bora addressing a press meet at Rajiv Bhawan on Friday Twitter @AssamPCC[/caption] “We accept the humiliating defeat of our party. It is a collective failure from leaders to grass-root workers. All are responsible for this,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Ripun Bora said at a press conference here. The party’s Rajya Sabha member alleged that the root cause of Congress’ “worst performance since Independence in Assam” is “false propaganda” by BJP and its allies. “They created an atmosphere that identity of Assamese people and Hindus are at stake and campaigned in the same manner. This polarised people in favour of BJP,” Bora said. He said the party and its workers failed to convey to the people the good works done by its government in the last 15 years which resulted in the defeat. “In the days to come, we will introspect our defects at grass-root level and rectify those. We will go to the people more in the future. As of now, we will act as responsible opposition,” said Bora. BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 by “false promises” like depositing Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank account, which all believed and voted for them, he alleged, adding, “Now nobody believes in Modi and his promises. The same will happen to the BJP in Assam in future.” Congress will closely watch how BJP fulfils its poll promises like providing 25 lakh jobs, giving salaries to government staff on time amidst financial constraints and solving the age-old illegal immigration issue, Bora said. When asked whether popularity of Congress is declining, he claimed that vote share of the party has increased since 2014. “In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Congress had a vote share of 29.6 percent. This time it stood at 31.1 percent. On the other hand, BJP’s vote share declined to 29.4 percent from 36.5 percent,” Bora said. “We will now prepare for 2019 Lok Sabha polls and form government at the Centre under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” he said.