Modi raises spectre of infiltration as he targets Congress-AIUDF alliance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of trying to destroy Assam’s identity by entering into an alliance with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which it said promotes infiltration.

Addressing an election rally in Bihpuria, in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, Modi said the “Congress can do anything for votes”.

“This [the Congress-AIUDF pact] is not a mahajot (grand alliance), it is a mahajhoot (grand lie), which neither has a representative nor policy. Such an alliance can only guarantee infiltration and corruption,” he told voters.

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Modi began the day with a rally in West Bengal’s Kanthi parliamentary constituency, the turf of the Adhikari clan, which has thrown its weight behind the BJP, and said the state would show the door to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress.

Sisir Adhikari, 79, the patriarch of the Adhikari family who has represented the Kanthi seat in the Lot Sabha for the TMC since 2009, and his son, Suvendu, were on stage with the PM. Suvendu, a former minister in the Mamata cabinet, resigned a few months ago to join the BJP. He is contesting against the CM in Nandigram.

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Mamata, meanwhile, took a swipe at Modi, calling him a “liar”. “I respect the PM’s chair but, sorry to say, Narendra Modi is a big liar,” she said at a rally in Bishnupur. Mamata alleged that Modi only talks big and makes false promises.

Polling for the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6. Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases from March 27, with the final round of voting taking place on April 29.