Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is currently on a two-day trip to Northeast India, on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is strengthening its base in the region. Speaking in Assam, he said the formation of BJP government in the state for the second time means it has permanently rejected terrorism and riots to move towards development.
“For 5 years, the way the duo of Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma has run the government, people of Assam have preferred the path of development, which is why Sarma is the new CM. I congratulate the Assam team for Sarma’s second innings,” news agency ANI quoted Shah as saying.
Laying the foundation stone of Tamulpur Medical College & Hospital and distributing financial assistance to 100 selected beneficiaries under ‘Prarthana Achoni’ at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati, Amit Shah said the BJP is strengthening its base in the North East and the people of the region have accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
“For the first time since independence, five ministers from the North East have been selected in the Union Cabinet. This has shown that the North East stands in BJP and Prime Minister Modi’s priorities. We want to increase North East’s contribution to development. PM Modi has started the road of new development in the North East. He has visited the region 35 times in seven years. No other PM has travelled to this region so many times,” he said.
Mentioning the Bodo Accord signed in January last year, Amit Shah claimed the Union government has already met 90 per cent of the terms of the agreement.
“More than 2,100 cadres of different militant groups of the North East have given up their weapons under several agreements signed under the Modi government. The people of Assam have now no needed to stage protest for development, they just need to provide support,” he said.
“Under PM Modi, the Bodoland Agreement was done. We have already met 90 % of the conditions of the agreement,” Shah said.
“We’ve already given land in 9 areas out of the 14 demanded under the Bru-Reang Agreement, and before 2022, 35,000 Bru families will get land to live, food grains, pension and respect as Indian citizens,” Shah said.
Last year, in January 2020, Amit Shah had presided over the signing of a historic agreement between the Government of India, Government of Assam and Bodo representatives in New Delhi to end the over 50-year old Bodo crisis. Further, a permanent solution has been found out for the problem that has cost the region over 4,000 lives.
With this Bodoland agreement, over 1,500 armed cadres gave up violence and joined the mainstream. A Special Development Package Rs 1500 crores over three years was given by the Union Government to undertake specific projects for the development of Bodo areas.
The Union Home Minister also spoke about the recent Union Cabinet rejig and said: “Since independence, not once have five ministers from North East been selected in Cabinet. This was done for 1st time in PM Modi’s Cabinet. This shows where North East stands in BJP & PM Modi’s priorities. We want to increase North East’s contribution in development.”
Appreciating Assam’s heritage and culture, Shah said, “BJP wants to protect and preserve Assam’s language, its heritage, and its culture. BJP believes that the languages, dialects, cuisines, and other such traits are India’s jewels and we need to preserve them.”
