Achi news desk-
Rajya Sabha MP and Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev spoke exclusively to GPlus and explained why she feels Congress’s Silchar candidate is a BJP dummy. She also said CAA is a joke.
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GPlus: You were in Congress, now you are in TMC, both are the alliance parties of INDI now. Which party is better?
SD: It is not a question of which party is better for me, the question is which party is better for Assam to fight BJP. I think Trinamool Congress is the alternative because nine sitting Congress members of Congress have already gone to BJP, 1000 workers have already gone to BJP, so I think Congress is confused and Trinamool Congress is the only alternative and it is going to rise to the occasion in future as well.
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GPlus: You were an MP from Silchar, your father was a popular leader from Silchar, why didn’t you contest this time.
SD: There are only two seats in Barak Valley, one is Silchar which is a Scheduled Caste (SC) seat and I cannot contest. In Karimganj, there are almost 2 lakh 30 thousand minority votes compared to majority, this seat was reserved for SC for 50 years and now it is a general seat and minority people are striving for this seat because the number of Muslim voters is more, so I didn’t want to go for minority seat and contest.
GPlus: Congress fielded a candidate from Silchar despite being INDI’s alliance party. Did the alliance fail because even in West Bengal TMC did not leave many seats for Congress?
SD: Alliance and seat sharing are two different concepts. Alliance is whoever wins, if Mamata Didi wins 40 seats, if Tejaswi wins 30 seats, if Stalin wins 35 seats, you have to unite and form the government in alliance. Seat division is about to face. So I believe Trinamool Congress has fielded candidates where Congress is not in the contest.
GPlus: But the votes will be divided?
SD: Not at all, today if you walk around the streets of Silchar, you will be told that if TMC had not been on the ground, BG would have swept by five lakh votes. Today, Trinamool is facing BJP, we are in a contest, we may win, BJP may win. We were not in Silchar it was beyond BJP.
GPlus: Last time, after the Tripura Assembly elections, CPM claimed that TMC is BJP’s B team, your comment on that?
SD: I will say one thing, today in Assam, when Ripon Bora ji’s Rajya Sabha elections were there, Congress cross-voted and helped BJP. When President Murmu’s choice was there, the Congress cross-voted and helped the BJP. So who is the second team, you decide.
GPlus: TMC has fielded very few candidates in Assam, when will the party have its full presence in the state?
SD: We are not contesting in Jorhat, we are not contesting in Nagaon, and the entire seat has changed in Barpata so we are not contesting where the Congress has a sitting MP. We are contesting where the Congress fielded dummy candidates. Look at the candidate in Rafta, he is the dummy candidate; Congress candidate Silchar is the dummy candidate of BJP. So we compete where Congress gives in.
GPlus: What is the scenario in Silchar, how confident are you that TMC will win Silchar?
SD: We are going to win. Let me tell you why, you channel Guwahati, the government has consistently lied to the people of Barak Valley. The Chief Minister of Assam, who was then the Finance Minister, came here and said that all the government jobs of Barak Valley will go to the unemployed youth of Barak Valley, but now the children of Barak Valley are not even getting government jobs in 4th grade. They come from outside Emek Barak. I am not against the Brahmaputra Valley, but the Prime Minister has said that he will retain the seats. He lied. Our only industry, the paper mill, has closed down, Maha Sadak is not yet complete and please look at the price increase. On April 1st the prices of medicines went up so if the BJP government feels that it has given Rs 1000 in their account, the people
can run a household where a LPG cylinder costs Rs 1100, then they are stupid.
GPlus: What is your position on CAA?
SD: My position on CAA has never changed. I said in Assam agreement when people got citizenship, they didn’t have to show even one paper. Those who were there before 1971 became citizens, so I said if you want to give citizenship to Hindus, why are you asking for documents now? I said CAA is unconstitutional because you can’t leave one community out, but it is BJP who did propaganda and now CAA has become a joke, now they are telling Hindus please show Bangladeshi passport and Bangladeshi ration card, so CAA is a joke for Hindus of Assam .
GPlus: How many seats will INDI Alliance get in Assam? And what are your calculations regarding the whole country?
SD: I am not BJP saying I am winning by 3 lakh votes, 4 lakh votes. People will decide, I am fighting this election on issues, issues like unemployment, inflation and corruption, this is the most corrupt government in the history of Assam.
GPlus: What is your future strategy? Where do people of Silchar see Sushmita Dev after 10 years?
SD: I am a people’s leader, I am in Rajya Sabha for the next six years. I will continue to work for the people of Barak Valley, Assam and North East India. Politics is not my profession, it is my passion. So I like to represent my people.
GPlus: You and Gaurav Gogoi were the most vocal in the Assam Parliament as young leaders. Do you think he will win in Jorhat?
SD: I don’t know, I have no idea, I didn’t go to Jorhat, I can’t comment on what is going to happen in Jorhat.
GPlus: Silchar is still underdeveloped and people are still poor. What is your plan to improve the situation, if your party is voted into power?
SD: It is very simple, communication is the biggest problem, because we are separated from the rest of Assam and we have to go through Majalaya. Road condition is very bad from Silchar to Shillong. I intend to take it up in Parliament. The next step is employment, so we need to bring industry to Emek Barak, without industry the children are consistently dependent on government jobs and government jobs cannot satisfy everyone, job creation, and thirdly, and most importantly, I want to fight for the dignity of Emek Barak because we are not a colony of Assam, please, entire Assam should understand that we are not a colony of Assam. Today, the Prime Minister says, “Omar Dahotir to vote no, Omar Longir to vote no”; dhuti is what a bengali hindu wears, they say bengalis are chanchur wala, what kind of insult is this, i will stand, see our slogans, our slogan in this election is ‘amadar adhikar amdar swabhiman, 26th april said corboy proman’.
