If Modi becomes PM, corporates will run India like US: Gogoi

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday said if his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi became prime minister, the government would be run by big corporates like those in the United States. [caption id=“attachment_1464265” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. PTI[/caption] “If Modi becomes prime minister, big corporates will be behind him. It will be a kind of corporate rule from back door, just like what happens in American democracy. It is going to be the most dangerous thing to Indian democracy,” Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati. In addition to that, Modi government would be influenced by “RSS philosophy of dictatorship”, he said. “We can see it even now - Modi is going to every election meeting in a private jet. Who is financing it? This belongs to Adanis,” Gogoi alleged. He further said even earlier, when the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate was going on official trips as head of Gujarat government, Modi used to travel in private jets. “We also go to New Delhi and abroad, but not like him. We go in Indian Airlines or other airlines’ planes, but not in a private jet,” he said. Gogoi claimed that Modi had appointed PR professionals from abroad to manage his publicity for the Lok Sabha elections. “His PR is being handled by an American company. His waistcoat, hairstyle, shoes, spectacles - everything is by designers. All of these are sponsored by corporates,” he said. Talking about the Gujarat model of growth, Gogoi said it would not be successful in Assam as Congress has been successfully working with an indigenous model. “In 2004-05, the GSDP of Assam was 3.4 percent, while it was 14.95 percent in Gujarat. In 2012-13, Assam’s GSDP jumped to 6.6 percent, but Gujarat’s fell to 7.96 percent. Which model should I take? If we had adopted Gujarat model, our GSDP would have fallen to 1.5 per cent,” he said. The Assam chief minister also ridiculed Modi’s claim of high employment in the western state and said “in a recent case, the Gujarat government advertised for 1,500 lower ranked posts and surprisingly, the number of applicants were over eight lakh”. “I am happy to fight against Modi. He is BJP’s god. A simple man like me is fighting with the god because I have Lachit’s blood in me,” he said. Lachit Borphukan was an Ahom general who defeated the mighty Mughal force. Talking about elections in Assam, Gogoi said Congress would win at least 10 seats out of 14 in the state. “In the first phase, we’ll win all the five seats. There is no Modi wave in Assam… We are focusing on improving conditions of 31 per cent BPL people in the state,” he said. The first phase of elections will take place on 7 April for Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Tezpur, Jorhat and Kaliabor seats. Gogoi condemned the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti’s action of disrupting his public meeting on Wednesday saying its leader Akhil Gogoi was “a disturbing factor”. PTI