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New Delhi, Feb. 6 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said for years the north-eastern region was ignored but things changed under his government, and it has now become a growth engine.
Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the president’s Address in Lok Sabha, Modi also said many problems in the northeast were resolved only for meeting political reasons and remained confined to papers.
“Let us talk about the Bodo accord. Despite many efforts, the issue was unsolved for years. The Bodo accord signed now is special because it has brought all stakeholders together and we are moving towards a more peaceful era,” he said.
The Bodo accord was signed on January 27 by the government with four factions of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), All Bodo Students’ Union and a civil society group for bringing a lasting peace in Bodo-dominated areas in Assam.
The prime minister said for years, distance became a reason to ignore the northeast and things have changed now.
“The northeast is becoming a growth engine. Great work has been done in so many sectors. Ministers and officials are regularly visiting the region,” he said.
Modi refers to 1st Assam CM Bordoloi while defending CAA
Mounting a strong defence of the Citizenship Amendment Act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday referred to Jawaharlal Nehru’s letter to Assam’s first Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi asking him to distinguish between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants from Pakistan.
Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha, Modi said Nehru in a letter to Bordoloi, the then Assam Chief Minister, in 1950 had asked him to distinguish between Hindu refugees and Muslim migrants from Pakistan and said the law should be amended to grant citizenship to the refugees if required.
“This was not only Mahatma Gandhi’s but also Nehru’s sentiments. Was Pandit Nehru communal? Did he discriminate between Hindus and Muslims? Did he want Hindu Rashtra?” Modi asked, asserting that several reports, including those of parliamentary panels, had recommended a law like the CAA.
Modi said the Congress is having problems when his government is taking decisions to fulfil wishes of the country’s “founding fathers”.
Assam and several other states have been witnessing protests against the CAA.
Opposition parties are against the new law.
Bordoloi, who was credited with saving Assam from merging with Pakistan during the Partition, was conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1999 posthumously.
Bordoloi’s bold and competent leadership was instrumental in saving Assam from merging with Pakistan under the Cabinet Mission’s plan, a concept created by the British in collaboration with the Muslim League.