Four years of broken promises and belied hopes

Come May 18, the Tarun Gogoi Government in Dispur will complete its fourth year in office. Four years earlier, the Tarun Gogoi-led government came to power again, this time in a coalition though. The 40-page manifesto had then produced is a story of broken promises for most people in the State. Those promises which could not be completed in the first term were repackaged in the manifesto with more promises to build a prosperous Assam. However, the situation is no better after four years. The unemployment situation in the State has even worsened despite promises to the contrary by the Congress in its manifesto. The Congress had promises that in one year’s time, it will fill up all vacant government posts. It had also promised that in five years in government and semi government jobs, 80 per cent of indigenous people will be inducted in the first two grades, while 100 per cent induction of indigenous people will take place in the third and the fourth grade. Dispur had also promised jobs in thousands for school teachers. In spite of the realization that Dispur has been woefully short of its promises, the government has begun in earnest its attempt to come to power for the third term in succession. Among the unfulfilled promises, the drainage system in the city and its dilapidated communication infrastructure were also included. But the biggest hit on the voters has been the blow on the food price front. Not a single essentials item has escaped the wrath of increasing prices. The prices of sugar, wheat, potato, onion, oil, pulses have all touched sky high. What the government in short has ensured is to increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots, pushing the marginalized into increasing isolation.