DIBRUGARH, Jan 30: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the EU-India free trade agreement will ensure that Assam tea shipments will reach European countries with zero tariff.
Addressing a public rally at the Khanikar Parade Ground here, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken Assam tea to Paris and Berlin along with other countries of the European bloc through the recently signed trade pact.
‘‘The EU-India trade pact will further boost Assam tea exports to European countries,’’ he asserted.
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Dibrugarh, which has the highest concentration of tea gardens, will get the biggest advantage from this trade pact, Shah said.
‘‘Tea from these gardens will now reach 27 countries and the people of these countries will enjoy the morning cup of tea from Dibrugarh’’, he added.
The 27 countries of the EU comprise one-third of international trade and the PM has ‘‘opened up a huge market for tea which will reach there with zero-tariff’’, the Union minister said.
‘‘Our export earnings will go up and Modi ji has done wonders for Assam tea with this pact,” Shah added.
In a bid to woo the tea tribe community ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the union minister thanked the tea garden workers for giving a “distinct identity to Assam and India as one of the leading exporters of tea to the world”.
‘‘Dibrugarh is known as the tea capital, and garden workers have ensured that the aroma of Assam tea reaches the world. The state is recognised in the world for its tea. It is the hard work of labourers that has ensured this,” he said.
Asserting that tea garden workers have strengthened the state’s economy, Shah said they also ensured that the beverage remains a leading export commodity.
The BJP leader alleged that the Congress did “nothing for the welfare of garden workers who have positioned Assam, particularly Dibrugarh, as the tea capital of the country”.
‘‘The chief minister has amended the law to ensure that the tea garden workers get ownership rights of land,” he said.
Shah accused the Congress of giving a toolkit to defame Assam and its tea, without elaborating.
Tea garden workers constitute a sizeable electorate in the upper Assam assembly constituencies, which was earlier considered a Congress stronghold, but they have slowly shifted their allegiance to the BJP since 2014. (PTI)
