Guwahati, Feb 24: The Congress on Monday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Assam over several issues, including the recent attack on its party MP Rakibul Hussain, while terming the nine years of the BJP rule in the northeastern state as “inefficient and incompetent”.

Jitendra Singh, the in-charge of the Congress in Assam, said: “As Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his two-day visit to Assam, the state has already experienced two major incidents of violence.

“We witnessed how BJP thugs were punching and kicking Assam police, and the police did not arrest them. Four days ago, our Lok Sabha MP, Rakibul Hussain, was brutally attacked by thugs in broad daylight in a busy marketplace, and the goons even attacked the police security officers and tried to snatch their weapons.”

He claimed that the state Congress president Bhupen Borah was also attacked in broad daylight.

“This sums up the BJP rule in Assam for 9 years – corrupt, inefficient, incompetent, rogue and divisive. The state is in deep crisis,” Singh added.

The Congress leader also claimed that the unemployment is at the peak during BJP’s regime and this is one of the reasons why law and order situation has deteriorated in Assam.

The opposition party also targeted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the issue of corruption, and raised several questions regarding the business ventures of the CM’s wife.

In a statement, the Congress said: “It is intriguing how Assam CM’s wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma becomes a business tycoon in just 4 years! She has allegedly acquired multiple tea gardens.”

The party said “additionally, she has expanded her business empire by acquiring a news portal, opening a leading fast food outlet, and establishing an international school. Her company reportedly received a central subsidy of Rs 10 crore. It is now common knowledge in the state that massive land scams allegedly involving the Chief Minister’s family members have taken place”.

Singh further said that even as rathole coal mining was banned by the National Green Tribunal, the illegal business was going on in several places in Assam that resulted in the death of nine labourers in Umrangso in Dima Hasao district.

“Kanika Hojai, wife of Dima Hasao Autonomous Council Chief Executive Member Debolal Garlosa, is accused of running an illegal coal mine in Umrangso and has gone into hiding. A 2021 report by Justice Brojendra Prasad Katakey found rampant illegal mining in Digboi forest division, causing multiple fatal accidents and involving local authority complicity,” the Congress leader added.

Jaipur, Feb 24: Congress on Monday staged a protest at Vidhan Sabha against the state minister Avinash Gehlot, who ‘insulted’ the opposition MLAs by referring the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as ‘Dadi’.

However, strict security measures were put in place, preventing the Congress workers from moving beyond Sahakar Bhawan.

Authorities also barricaded the road leading inward from Bharat Petrol Pump at 22 Godown Circle and installed two layers of barricades.

On February 21, during the Question Hour, Congress members disrupted proceedings by storming the well of the House in protest against Minister Avinash Gehlot’s remarks on former PM Indira Gandhi who referred her to as ‘Dadi’.

While responding to a question, Gehlot stated that in 2023-24, a particular scheme was named after “your Dadi, Indira Gandhi,” leading to protests by the Congress legislators.

As tensions escalated, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel defended the minister’s choice of words, stating that “Dadi” (grandmother) is a respectful term. However, his explanation further fueled the uproar, prompting Congress MLAs to approach the Speaker’s table. In response, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

The deadlock persisted throughout the day, leading to a total of four adjournments. Chief Whip Jogeshwar Garg moved a proposal to suspend several Congress MLAs, which Speaker Vasudev Devnani approved.

As a result, six legislators – Govind Singh Dotasra, Deputy Leader of Opposition Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Zakir Hussain Gasavat, Hakam Ali Khan, and Sanjay Kumar – were suspended for the remainder of the budget session.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs have continued their protest inside the Assembly for the fourth consecutive day, having spent three nights in the House.

The controversy, initially sparked by Minister Avinash Gehlot’s remarks, has deepened following the suspension of key Congress leaders, including state president Govind Singh Dotasra.

So far, attempts by the government to resolve the standoff have been unsuccessful.

Jammu, Feb 24: Security forces started searches at multiple locations near the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K’s Poonch district on Monday after tip-offs about suspicious activity, officials said.

Officials said that acting on intelligence inputs about suspicious movement, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police and troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jointly cordoned off Phamarnar, Kiker Morh, Jabdan Gali, and Harni in the Gursai and Brella and Kasbalari areas of Mendhar and the Bafliaz forest in Surankote for searches.

“No contact has been so far established with the terrorists yet while the searches are still going on,” an official said.

Due to scant snowfall this winter, all the traditional infiltration routes are open along the LoC in J&K.

For this reason, the army on the LoC and police and other security forces in the hinterland are maintaining high vigil to thwart any terrorist attempt to sneak into this side of the LoC.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently chaired two high-level security review meetings on J&K, has reportedly given clear orders to the security forces to ensure zero infiltration and zero tolerance to terrorists.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha also chaired two security meetings, one in Srinagar and the other in Jammu, and gave orders for the complete dismantling of the terror ecosystem by targeting terrorists, their over-ground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers.

He said that drug smuggling, drug peddling, and hawala rackets are used to generate funds which are finally used to sustain terrorism in J&K.

Intelligence agencies believe that the handlers of terrorism sitting across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied areas got frustrated because of peaceful and people participative Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in J&K last year. These handlers of terrorism are reported to have given directions to the terrorists in J&K to give push to dying terrorism in the UT.