PM Narendra Modi asks people to vote for change in Assam

BIHPURIA/BOKAKHAT (ASSAM): Assam is now a "diseased state" and Congress must be uprooted to overcome it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today asking the electorate to vote for change in the April assembly polls.

"It has already been decided by the people of Assam to vote for BJP, but make sure that the work is not half done. Please ensure that you bring the party to power with two-thirds majority so that the BJP government can work whole-heartedly to make Assam a leading state in the country," Modi said addressing two election rallies in Upper Assam's Bihpuria and Bokakhat constituencies.

The presence of women in large numbers in the meetings are a clear indication that days of the Congress government in the state were over and it "does not stand a chance in the coming elections," he said.

"Assam is now a diseased state and the root of all disease and trouble is Congress, which must be uprooted at all costs," Modi said.

The state was represented by the erstwhile prime minister (Manmohan Singh) for ten years but now its people have to be reminded that they were represented by a former PM, he said.

"A deep injustice has been done to the people of Assam and their aspirations crushed. The youth of Assam has tremendous potential and they are a deprived lot. It is time to correct these wrongdoings," he added.

Modi said he has the single agenda of ensuring all-round development of the state and it was time to free it from the politics of vote banks and the coming assembly elections in the state was the biggest oppurtunity for the people of the state to bring about change and development.

The Prime Minister said he was surprised at Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's statement that his fight is against him. "How can I fight him (Gogoi)? He is so senior to me and in a few years he will be 90. He is an elder, I respect him and seek his blessings."

"My fight is not against Gogoi but against poverty, unemployment, underdevelopment and superstition," he said.