PM Modi Blames Congress Misrule for Northeast’s Isolation, Lauds BJP’s Push for Assam’s Development

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the whole of Assam and the northeast had remained cut off from the national mainstream due to the Congress misrule.

Modi said this while addressing a huge gathering of people at the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah sports complex in Guwahati. The Prime Minister was there to participate in the largest ensemble of Bagurumba dance, a traditional dance of the Bodo community in Assam.

He said the Congress governments in Assam had never thought about the development of the state.

"It is the Congress who had opposed when we decided to confer Bharat Ratna upon Late Bhupen Hazarika. It is a Congress minister in Karnataka, also son of the national president of the Congress, who opposed our decision to set up the Semiconductor project in Assam," said Modi while attacking the Congress.

"Assam has remained cut off from the national mainstream all these years because of Congress only. There has been rise in problems and violence in the region due to misrule of the Congress," said Modi while addressing the audience.

"It is the vote bank politics of the Congress that led to the problems here. The Congress never paid any heed to the voices which led to violence and secession," he said.

"At a time when the Congress government in Assam should have listened to the voices of the people, Congress opened the doors for infiltrators for their vote-bank politics," he said, adding that the infiltrators continued to come in during Congress rule.

Appreciating the recent eviction drives of the BJP government in Assam, Modi said that the BJP government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has freed lakhs of bighas of land from infiltrators who have been encroaching on land belonging to the locals.

The Prime Minister said that it is the double engine government of the BJP that has been clearing the mess started by Congress in the region.

The Prime Minister said that he has always prioritised the Northeast and added that no Prime Minister of the country has visited the region as many times as he has done.

Appreciating the Bagurumba Dwhoo ensemble on Saturday, the PM said that is not a mere dance ensemble but a medium to honour and remember the founding fathers of the Bodoland and Bodoland society.

"This arrangement here is a way to pay tribute to the identity of Bodo culture. My effort has always been to take the culture of Assam and northeast to a larger state. It was my privilege that I have had the opportunity to be present when the largest ensemble of Bihu and Jhunoir Binandini were presented last year," he said.

It may be mentioned that about 10,000 dancers and musicians presented the Bagurumba Dwhoo at the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah sports complex on Saturday evening. It is the first programme of this kind where such huge numbers of dancers and musicians took part in Guwahati.