The Indian National Congress in Assam on March 4 announced the launch of its second leg of campaign ‘Congressor 5 Guarantee’ with the launch of an employment registration website – congressor5guarantee.in.
The Opposition Congress is contesting the Assam assembly elections promising five guarantees to the people if they are voted to power. Among the five guarantees includes employment to 5 lakh locals in the public sector along with 25 lakh jobs in the private sector, during the course of their tenure.
AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh, addressing the press conference in Guwahati on March 4, introduced the campaign and said: “First of all I thank the people of Assam for the warm and enthusiastic response to the Asom Basaon Ahok Yatra. The one big issue that people from every constituency highlighted (during the yatra) was the unemployment. Youth do not have jobs and we found it from Tinsukia to Dhubri, from Karimganj to Nagaon, unemployment is the biggest issue.”
APCC president Ripun Bora added that in the last election, “the BJP promised 25 lakh jobs and gave, at best 80,000. This election, the Congress is guaranteeing 5 lakh jobs. The reason why the Congress wants to create 5 lakh new government jobs is because they’re needed. They’re needed for 2 reasons: Shortage of government staff and for a plan to make drastic improvement in Assam’s development.”
“The Assam government currently has around 4 lakh 37 thousand employees. There are another 58,000 sanctioned posts that are vacant. Why has Sonowal not been filling up the vacant posts? They’re not creating new posts, and not even filling the posts falling vacant. With a similar population as Assam, Punjab and Haryana both have around 5.5 lakh government employees,” the senior Congress leader said.
Congress legislature party leader Debabrata Saikia said that the private sector has been ruined by the policies of the BJP. “We studied the possibilities in the private sector, we asked economists and experts and came to the conclusion that we can create 25 lakh private sector jobs in Assam in 5 years. We will reserve a part of government contracts for Assamese companies, and also have reservations for Assamese people in private sector jobs created in Assam. That is how, apart from the 5 lakh jobs, we will create additional 25 lakh private sector jobs in the state,” Saikia explained.
“Assam has a shortage of 40,000 health workers. A shortage of 38,000 school teachers. A shortage of 12,000 college teachers. A shortage of 15,000 policemen. We need to create more jobs. The number of sanctioned posts in Assam is meagre, but even in the sanctioned posts the vacancies will surprise you. You will wonder why the BJP did not fill the vacancies,” said Lok Sabha MP and chairman of the congress campaign committee Pradyut Bordoloi.
Addressing the media persons, Lok Sabha MP and Congress manifesto committee chairman Gaurav Gogoi said: “The issue is not just the posts that haven’t been filled but the posts that need to be created. Everyone will agree that a state so prone to floods as Assam should have a much larger disaster relief force than it does. To improve the quality of education, we need not only a lot more teachers but also teacher trainers. Sceptics will say it is not possible to create 5 lakh government jobs in 5 years. Those who do not intend to deliver always find excuses. But if you dream big, you find a way.”
President of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev, publicity committee chairman Rakibul Hussain and Lok Sabha MP and media and communication chief Abdul Khaleque were also present at the press conference.
During the launch of the online registration drive on March 4, 101 unemployed youth of the state have registered for guaranteed employment on the website.
