Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that the people of Assam voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the second consecutive term because “they have permanently given up agitations, terrorism and arms in favour of development”.
“A lot has been written and discussed about the BJP’s return to power in Assam. In my view, the party’s win means that Assam has permanently given up agitations, terrorism and arms in favour of development,” Shah said in Guwahati — his first visit to the region since the April-May election in Assam, in which the BJP swept to victory.
Giving the analogy of construction, Shah said the first five years of the BJP government in Assam were akin to the laying of the foundation of a building, and the next five will be spent on the construction of it.
Shah said that the faith reposed by the voters in the BJP once again showed that they approved of the five years of the government headed by Sarbananda Sonowal and were confident that chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would carry on with the good work.
“Only in the BJP you can witness an incumbent CM making way for another after running a state successfully for five years, and Sonowal happily welcomed Sarma. The move has benefited Assam as Sonowal is now a cabinet minister while Sarma handles the state,” the home minister said.
{{/usCountry}}“Only in the BJP you can witness an incumbent CM making way for another after running a state successfully for five years, and Sonowal happily welcomed Sarma. The move has benefited Assam as Sonowal is now a cabinet minister while Sarma handles the state,” the home minister said.
{{/usCountry}}Shah, who was on a two-day visit to Meghalaya and Assam, mentioned that it is the first instance since Independence that the northeast has five ministers in the Union cabinet. He said development of the region is a priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He informed that a new peace deal with insurgent groups in the Karbi Anglong region of Assam will be signed soon, and all peace accords signed with groups in the northeast will be implemented.
Shah laid the foundation stone of a new medical college hospital at Tamulpur in lower Assam and launched an Assam government scheme to provide ₹1 lakh each to the family members of the nearly 5,000 people who died due to Covid-19 in the state by handing over cheques to three beneficiaries.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also spoke at the gathering and listed the schemes launched by his government to provide financial aid to various people affected by Covid-19: children who lost parents, women who lost husbands and families that lost their loved ones.
Shah had earlier inaugurated a new radiotherapy block and linear acceleration machine at the State Cancer Institute attached to the Guwahati Medical College. He returned to Delhi after the event.
Earlier in the day, Shah visited Sohra (Cherrapunjee) in Meghalaya, which was formerly the wettest place on earth. He was accompanied by Union ministers G Kishan Reddy, BL Verma and Jitendra Singh, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma and officials of the Assam Rifles, Shah planted saplings as part of a green drive called Green Sohra Plantation Drive. It’s part of the Assam Rifles’ Sohra Afforestation Project that is spread over almost 10,000 hectares.
Shah then inaugurated the Greater Sohra Water Supply Scheme funded by the ministry for the development of the northeastern region or DoNER under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme with a sanctioned amount of ₹2,481.25 lakh.
CM Conrad Sangma called it a first-of-its-kind initiative of the Meghalaya government to bring together the ministry of home affairs, defence officials, and village communities for a novel and humanitarian purpose in the field of natural resource management in a very important and ecologically fragile landscape.
The home minister also paid floral tributes at the statue of Swami Vivekananda at Ramakrishna Mission, Sohra.
Earlier on Saturday, Shah met a delegation of the Meghalaya cabinet led by CM Sangma and promised that the Centre would examine in detail the demand for the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Meghalaya.
Rural development minister Hamletson Dohling told journalists after the meeting that the minister gave them a patient hearing. Dohling claimed that this is the first time that the Union government has given the state a chance to raise the issue at the national level.
“He (Shah) gave a patient hearing when I raised this issue. He said that he would look into it and let us know (about the Centre’s decision),” he said.
On Saturday evening, the home minister met with the leaders of a few select civil society groups to discuss their demands, especially for ILP and solution of the boundary row with Assam. Attendees later said there was no commitment from the top National Democratic Alliance leader and it remained a routine assemblage.
“The Union home minister only listened to our submission on the ILP but there was no assurance or commitment on it, which is a big insult to the people of the state,” Khasi Students Union president Lambokstarwell Marngar said.