ITANAGAR, May 26: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) and its frontal wings on Saturday observed ‘Vishwasghat Diwas (Betrayal Day)’ across the state to mark the completion of four years of the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The APCC also staged a protest rally, from Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan to the IG Park tennis court, over the hike in the prices of petroleum products. The rally concluded with the burning of an effigy of Modi. The party is demanding rollback of the price hike within 10 days.
Addressing a press conference after the rally, former chief minister Nabam Tuki lambasted the state government over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, saying the bill would create a demographic imbalance for the indigenous tribal people of the state.
Tuki also questioned why the BJP government is adamant on introducing the bill in the entire Northeast region.
Saying that the NITI Aayog “has been detrimental to the progress of states like Arunachal,” Tuki said the erstwhile Planning Commission under the Congress regime had offered several grants from the Centre, which were disbursed in a time-bound manner.
“Under the NITI Aayog, salaries are now disbursed after the 15th of every month, adding to the woes of the government employees,” he said.
Tuki claimed that many of his party legislators had shifted loyalty to the BJP in the hope that the state would get a much bigger share of the developmental funds.
“However, four years since then, it has turned out to be a false promise with even banks and ATMs running out of cash,” he said.