GUWAHATI/AGARTALA
The BJP-led NDA government has bailed northeastern India out of a Congress-created mess, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday. He was also critical of the Left Front, which ruled Tripura for 25 years until the BJP wrested power from it in 2018.
Addressing election rallies in western Assam’s Nalbari and Tripura’s capital Agartala on the last day of campaigning for the first phase of polling on April 19, he said that the Congress had only created problems in the northeast over 60 years by fanning separatism and failing to do justice to the resource-rich region with its policies.
The BJP, he claimed, has ensured peace and security in the region and accelerated development through its Act East Policy. “The Congress created problems for the northeast but the BJP made it a region of possibilities. The Congress encouraged separatism but we embraced the region,” Mr. Modi said in Nalbari, which comes under the Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency.
PM’s silence, neglect: Congress
The Congress hit back, reminding Mr. Modi of his continued neglect of Manipur, as well as his “silence” on the Naga peace talks and the Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh.
“The Modi Sarkar has failed the people of the Northeast on every front,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X on Wednesday. He listed five issues missing from the Prime Minister’s campaign in the region: violence in Manipur, chronic underutilisation of funds for the northeast, forests under threat, Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh, and languishing Naga peace talks.
From hope to guarantees
Speaking at Nalbari, Mr. Modi said that Assam had started benefitting from the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas (all together, development for all)‘ initiative after the Congress grip on the region was loosened. “Friends, Modi came to you in 2014 with hope. He came to you in 2019 carrying a belief, and he has come now to the soil of Assam with guarantees,” he said, claiming there was no discrimination in the NDA schemes.
The Prime Minister promised three crore houses “for everyone”, free ration for the next five years, and Ayushman Bharat benefits for all those over 70 years.
“Our goals include making three crore sisters Lakhpati Didis. Our government cares for the farmers of Assam. Lakhs of farmers here have benefitted after we increased the MSP [minimum support price] of the Kharif crops. We will continue the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, under which the farmers of the State got more than ₹5,400 crore,” he said.
Gamosa brand ambassador
The Prime Minister said that he was the brand ambassador of Assam’s distinctive gamosa (woven scarf-towel). “The Congress pokes fun at me when I wear Assam’s traditional attire because it does not care about the sentiments of the Assamese people,” he added.
Alluding to the BJP’s nationwide celebration of the legendary Ahom general Lachit Borphukan’s 400th birth anniversary, he said that the turnout at the rally indicated that the NDA would be “400 paar on June chaar”, predicting that the ruling alliance will win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats on June 4, the day of vote counting.
‘Don’t waste your vote’
In Agartala, Mr. Modi criticised the key INDIA bloc partners. “The Congress and the Communists are regularly fighting in Kerala but are friends in Tripura,” he said. “The Congress and the Communists should not get a single vote. Your vote for them will go to waste because they cannot form a government at the Centre,” he said, assuring more attention for Tripura if the BJP is given another chance.
The Prime Minister campaigned for NDA candidate Phani Bhushan Choudhury in Nalbari and BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb in Tripura West.
