“Amit Shah is speaking rubbish, you can quote me on that,” says Surya Kant Dasmana, Vice President of the Uttarakhand Congress. “They do not have any other issue to speak of and are using their only Brahmastra, Hindu-Muslim polarization, but it will not work. People have now woken up and understood BJP’s trick.” In 2017, recalled Dasmana, Prime Minister Modi had addressed more than half a dozen rallies in Uttarakhand and appealed to people to vote for a double engine government. He made tall promises of farmer’s loan waiver, reduction in unemployment, inflation and a Lokayukt within 100 days. But today the unemployment rate is 22.9% which is six times higher than what it was in 2017. “There is a surgical strike on the kitchen with Inflation in the state higher than the national average and prices of every food item, edible oil etc are skyrocketing. More than 21 farmers have committed suicide. The Lokayukta has still not seen the light of the day in four and a half years. It is stuck at a select committee. People have suffered during the Covid pandemic as they could not get medical aid, oxygen etc. and died without treatment. The official figure may be at 7,000 but in truth, more than 50,000 people have died. The people of Uttarakhand will remember these when the election comes,” Dasmana said.Dasmana added that the Congress party is fully prepared for the elections and is confident of securing a full majority. “You can see the signs already. People are coming back to the party,” he said referring to Yashpal Arya who quit BJP to return to Congress along with his MLA son Sanjeev Arya, a move seen as a setback for the ruling BJP.
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