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After Bodoland Territorial Council poll, BJP to gain majority in Assam polls, says Amit Shah
Addressing a public rally in Assam’s Kamrup district, Shah said the state has embarked on a journey of peace and development under chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday credited the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for unifying the people of Assam with the rest of the country.
Addressing a public rally in Assam’s Kamrup district, Shah said the state has embarked on a journey of peace and development under chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
“Assam was earlier known for agitations and violence, but Sonowal and Sarma have unified the people of the state and the region with the rest of the country by upholding and promoting heritage and traditions,” he said.
Shah said that BJP-led central government has given priority to Assam and the northeast in the past six years and ensured that the benefits of every scheme reach people in the state.
“In Assam, there was a period of movements. Many agitations were launched over different issues in which hundreds of youths were killed. The peace of Assam was disturbed and development was halted,” he said.
“There was a time when separatists used to give arms in the hands of the youth in these states. Almost all armed groups have joined the mainstream and the startups launched by youth are competing with other startups globally. What is the way forward? Development is the only way forward. Development is happening and will happen further but ideological change is also needed and that can’t happen only through development,” he said.
Referring to the Bodo agreement signed earlier this year, he said the Modi government has initiated the process of establishing peace in Assam. “The Bodoland Accord was the biggest success,” he said.
“Bodo youths who had taken up arms have now joined the mainstream…I am very much proud to say that in the recently conducted Bodoland polls, eighty percent polling took place with no bloodshed,” he said.
The senior BJP leader also expressed confidence that the party will form a government in Assam with a full majority in the 2021 assembly polls.
“The Bodoland poll, won by NDA, was only a semi-final. The final will be Assam election. In this poll too, BJP will have full majority,” Shah said.
The BJP extended support to the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) to stake claim for the Bodoland Territorial Council, after it won nine seats in the local polls. The UPPL won 12 seats in the elections held earlier in December.
The Union minister said that the northeast has turned into the country’s growth engine under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Modiji visited the Northeast Region thirty times in six years. Every time, he visited the region, he has come with gifts,” said Shah.
He launched an attack on the former government led by Congress for not working for development of Assam.
Invoking the 16th-century saint Acharya Sankardev, Shah said, “Congress didn’t do anything for the birthplace of Acharya Sankardev whose contributions gave recognition to Assam’s history, drama writing, arts and poetry.”
“But BJP believes in strengthening of language, culture, arts of the states. BJP believes that India cannot achieve greatness until the culture and language of states are strengthened. India’s culture and arts are incomplete without Assamese culture and arts,” he said.
During his visit, Shah is expected to meet the newly-elected members of the BJP’s core committee, the ruling coalition of Bodoland Territorial Council, the 23-member delegation of the United Peoples Party Liberal, news agency PTI reported.
On Saturday, Shah laid the foundation stones of a Rs 186-crore beautification programme of Vaishnav Saint Srimanta Sankardeva at Batadrava, a medical college and hospital which will be set up in the capital city, estimated to cost Rs 860 crore, and 11 law colleges across the state.
Shah’s visit also witnessed political developments in the state with legislators from other parties vying to join the BJP. During his stay he met Congress MLA Rajdeep Goala and Gana Shakti Party MLA Bhubon Pegu.
Former cabinet minister and Congress MLA from Golaghat Ajanta Neog, who was expelled from the party on Friday, also met Shah at the PWD guest house in Amingaon where he will spend the night.
Neog had tendered her resignation from primary of the Congress and also as legislator of Golaghat on Friday. All three leaders-Neog, Goala and Pegu are expected to join BJP.
“BJP has no strength of its own that’s why they need those from other parties. They (the BJP) are taking people from other parties by threatening with action by agencies like Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Income Tax,” Assam Congress president Ripun Bora told journalists on Saturday.
“Rajdeep Goala and Ajanta Neog are not connected with our party as they have already been expelled from the Congress. Since they are no longer associated with us, there’s nothing to say about what they are doing,” he added.
Shah is scheduled to offer prayers at Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati on December 27. From Guwahati, the home minister will visit Manipur to launch various schemes before leaving for New Delhi.
He also urged farmers agitating against the new agriculture laws to resolve their issues through discussions.
(With agency inputs)
