Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev has strongly criticized Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for what she called “an attempt to misuse the tragic death of singer Zubeen Garg as an excuse to delay the Silchar Municipal elections.” Speaking to the media on Friday, Dev accused the Chief Minister of misleading the people of Silchar with big project announcements while ignoring the basic need for an elected civic body for over five years.
“The Chief Minister of Assam was in Silchar yesterday and is leaving today. He made a big statement that in a single day he had announced projects worth Rs 1,000 crore for Silchar town itself. What he is not telling the rest of Assam is that in the second most populated town of the state, there have been no municipal elections for the last five years,” Dev said.
The TMC MP alleged that both the Chief Minister and the minister in charge of Cachar district have repeatedly made false promises about holding municipal elections. “He has been saying for years that elections will be held soon. Now he is saying that because of the sudden and sad death of Zubeen Garg, no work is happening at the officer level, and therefore elections cannot be held. Is he using Zubeen’s name to justify five years without an elected body in Silchar Municipal Corporation? It’s shameful and disgraceful,” Dev remarked. 
Sushmita Dev, who hails from Silchar and has been vocal on issues affecting the Barak Valley, said that the people are frustrated with the government’s excuses. She claimed that civic administration has suffered badly because of the delay in elections, while the government continues to make tall claims about development projects. “When there is no elected body, there is no accountability. You can keep announcing projects worth thousands of crores, but who is monitoring the work? The people of Silchar deserve answers,” she said.
Dev also took a dig at Chief Minister Sarma’s claims that the BJP government has brought major development to the Barak Valley. Referring to the BJP’s 2016–2025 vision document, she said that most of the promises made to the region remain unfulfilled. “Mr. Chief Minister, please open your own vision document and read what you promised. You said there would be all-weather roads — but the Mahasadak is still incomplete. You said there would be urban trading centres — not one has been built in the Barak Valley. You promised an agricultural university, a bench of the High Court, a mini-secretariat, and five bridges over the Barak River. None of these have been completed,” she said.
The TMC MP further said that the people of Silchar and the Barak Valley have been neglected for years, and the government’s focus on announcements instead of delivery has created widespread disappointment. “If I were to give marks for promises and performance, you would get a zero from me,” she said.
