A CORRESPONDENT
DOOMDOOMA: Raijor Dol candidate Kanak Chetia, who is in the fray along with six others (five actually as Debojit Moran filed nomination as independent candidate but came back to the BJP fold again) in the ensuing Doomdooma LAC election, appealed to people to cast conscience vote and not to be swayed away by emotion, while addressing a press meet held on Wednesday at Doomdooma Press Club.
Terming Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate Rupesh Goala as 'spineless' for becoming a BJP candidate within an hour of not getting a Congress ticket, Chetia, who is a grassroots level worker of Raijor Dol, said that they wanted to set up an example of value-based politics in the face of money power and muscle power which the people were experiencing in present day politics. They were against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and so wanted a State Government headed by a regional party.
Stating about Doomdooma constituency, he said that although it was rich in tea and forest resources, it was lagging behind in education and in providing modern healthcare facilities to the people. Had the economic condition been sound enough, there would not have been so much exodus of youths from here to outside the State. That became evident when thousands of jobless youths returned home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Doomdooma area also hundreds of tea garden youths returned home during the lockdown. He further alleged that the previous State Governments neglected the problem of flood and erosion and took only few steps for the growth of indigenous raw material-based industries. He also said that due to the fact that the daily wage of tea-labourers had not been enhanced and no remunerative fixed price of tea-leaves of small tea-growers had been fixed, it became impossible for local entrepreneurs to make substantial contribution towards the region's economic development.
Murali Tanti, president of Chah Sramik Mukti Sangram Samity, was also present in the press meet. Chetia also contributed Rs 1,000 to the Late Arup Kalita Commemorative Fund constituted in memory of Digboi scribe Arup Kalita by Digboi Press Club in association with Tinsukia District Journalists Association (TDJA).