Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Jan 25 : Coming down heavily on a call by certain anti – CAA protesters to break Assam and Northeast from the rest of India, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that anti – India elements are rattled by the normalcy returning to Northeast and, therefore, in their petty design to settle scores with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Modi government, they are ready to push back Northeast into same situation as it was before.
In a hard hitting rejoinder, Dr Jitendra Singh said, while every patriotic Indian would feel angry to hear such statements, personally he is deeply hurt because there has been tremendous hard work and diligent effort in the last five and half years on the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to put the Northeast back on track. When this govt came in 2014, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled, protracted blockades were a norm in certain regions of Northeast but today, all this is a thing of the past. However, it seems the disgruntled opponents of the Modi government wish to push back the Northeast to similar mayhem once again.
When the Modi Government took over in 2014, Dr Jitendra Singh said, descriptions like “mainland” and “hinterland” were used in the context of Northeast and if ever a Union Minister happened to visit a North Eastern State, he was referred to as a Minister from India. All this, he said, changed in the last five years and it was possible primarily because of the personal outreach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who himself visited Northeast more than 30 to 35 times in his first five – year term, which is perhaps more than the total number of visits of past Prime Ministers put together. In addition, regular visits by Union Ministers to Northeast were organised and today Northeast stands totally amalgamated with the rest of India, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, five years of development seen in the Northeast can easily surpass the lacklustre initiatives of the past. As a result of revolutionary transformation, today Northeast is emerging as a favorite destination for young start-ups from all over India, he added.
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