Ever since I became a politically aware youth, I have maintained that one should not compromise when it comes to one’s existence. My youthful days were spent opposing the infiltration of foreigners to Assam. These infiltrators started coming to our land, first to graze our land and then surreptitiously assert their political rights, described beautifully by the former Census Commissioner CS Mullan. Having seen and realized the folly or failure of almost all Governments in Dispur, I was clear in my mind that as and when I get the responsibility of protecting the sovereignty and very existence of our Assamese brothers and sisters, I will not compromise no matter what the political price is. Nothing can be important to an individual than his sacred motherland. The example of Lachit is there for us to inspire. Hence, our Government is now going all out to push back infiltrators or foreigners to where they belong. We have not only upped the ante against this class of individuals but have also directed our police not to show any unwarranted sympathy. As a corollary to this, we are even getting rid of encroachment of our forest lands, our Satras and Government land amounting to thousands and thousands of bighas. And not surprisingly, most of the encroachers are the ones with doubtful citizenship status who are creating nuisance across the State. Not only are they not grateful that the people of Assam have tolerated them despite their dubious conduct, but they are not even averse to working against the interest of the land where they are temporarily living. The spate of incidents involving temples in towns of Assam was the last throw of dice. Enough is enough is what I feel. As a Hindu, I know what tolerance is, but at the same time as a Hindu I know how to protect the interest of my religion. Anyone thinking that the tolerance of Hinduism can be tested over and over again is grossly wrong. We are not a Government that is weak-kneed, we know when to act tough in the interest of our people. I am assuring my Assamese brothers and sisters that your Chief Minister will always stand to protect your jati, mati and bheti no matter what.
In the month of June we continued with the momentum of creating more Government jobs where required. From education to health to tourism, we are trying to staff these departments with the best and most eligible human resources in a free, fair and transparent manner. The hallmark of our recruitment process is the fairness of the process. Gone are the days when every selection was followed by a clamour for transparency and withdrawal of the process; now our youths trust their Government and respect the selection without any remorse. Failure does not deter them anymore. For they know that more meritorious and more hard-working youths have got the jobs ahead of them and that they need to redouble the effort. In order to honour this sense of realization, what we have decided is to recruit 40,000 more youths, in the month of October this year, to fill up vacancies and create newer posts to achieve efficient governance. The fact that we have long surpassed our promised target of one lakh Government jobs means that we know that there are vacancies that need to be filled up, and we know what we are doing. This is just one of the steps. What our Government has also done is to create an ecosystem in the State where jobs will be generated by the private sector with massive investment flows coming through in the last few months. The movement has just begun. There will be a groundswell.
The special session of the Assam Legislative Assembly was convened to take crucial decisions and thankfully we achieved all of these with near unanimity. For example, the naming of the Dibrugarh Airport in the name of the legendary Bhupen Hazarika; and the translation of the biography of the Bard besides a detailed activity in the year of his centenary, MLAs cutting across party lines supporting the Government in a bipartisan approach signifying the respect Bhupen Da has in the hearts and minds of the people of Assam.
In June, we also completed a remarkable feat of mutual transfers of over nine thousand Government employees. The question of transfer has always been an issue with Government employees. As an MLA and a Minister, there were hundreds of times that I had to personally refuse genuine cases of transfer because of reasons that I had no control. However, that experience helped me get a sense of the hearts and minds of Government employees and their genuine concern for their family members’ needs. The Swagata Sathirta Portal that we put in place to carry out this massive exercise has fetched a lot of goodwill for the Government from our human resources. I am hopeful that these employees, now fully focused and rejuvenated, will give more than 100 per cent in serving the people of Assam and carrying out their responsibilities.
