IMPHAL/DIMAPUR, Jan 6 (PTI): Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said the Centre’s vision of mainstreaming the northeast has borne fruit as all the eight states of the region are going through stages of development.
He also asserted that the northeast which was once synonymous with insurgency has turned peaceful due to initiatives of the Narendra Modi government.
Shah visited Manipur and Nagaland, two northeastern states where assembly elections are due this year, during the day.
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In Manipur, he inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 21 development projects worth about Rs 1,311 crore. On the other hand, the Union home minister inaugurated five projects worth Rs 52 crore in Nagaland which he visited later in the day.
“The central government’s vision of mainstreaming the northeast has borne fruit,” he said at Dimapur, adding that Modi himself visited the region 51 times since becoming the Prime Minister in 2014.
Under NDA reign, North East and Nagaland have seen an increase in fund allocation by four times since 2014, Shah said.
The Modi government is concerned about the development of the North East, because of which the entire region and Nagaland are marching through the stages of development, he said.
In Nagaland, the Union government fulfilled the objective of three Ps – Peace, Progress and Prosperity, Shah said.
Shah expressed hope that the NDPP-BJP alliance in Nagaland will return to power in the next election and take the state towards development and prosperity.
Shah said that once known for insurgency, Nagaland is now a peaceful state that has a huge potential for tourism.
Insurgency reduced by 74 per cent in Nagaland between 2014 and 2021, the Union home minister said.
The process of repealing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA from Nagaland is in gradual progress, he said.
Shah inaugurated, among others, 42 virtual reality laboratories in 42 government higher secondary and secondary schools, Atal Tinkering labs in nine government higher secondary schools and a power substation at Chiephobozou in Kohima district.
Earlier, addressing a public rally at Moirang in Bishnupur district of Manipur, Shah said the BJP-led government at the Centre has invested Rs 3.45 lakh crore in the Northeast in less than eight years.
Road, rail and air connectivity have increased manifold under the Modi government, Shah said.
“We transformed Congress’s ‘Look East Policy’ into ‘Act East Policy’. We do what we promise,” he said.
“There was a situation of terror during the Congress rule in Manipur. Now, it is among the best governed small states,” he said, adding that the Modi government lifted AFSPA from six districts of Manipur.
Noting that the N Biren Singh government in the state is undertaking massive operations against drug trafficking and abuse, he said the BJP will make Manipur drug-free by the next election.
The Union home minister also unfurled a 165-foot-tall national flag at the INA headquarters in Moirang, where the Indian National Army had hoisted the tricolour for the first time on Indian soil towards the fag-end of World War II.
He said Moirang will be developed as a tourist spot.
Shah paid floral tributes to a photograph of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at the memorial. He was accompanied by chief minister N Biren Singh.
The Union home minister inaugurated a medical college in Churachandpur, the hill district’s first such establishment.
“Earlier, students from Manipur had to go to cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad for medical studies. Now, 100 students from other states will come to Churachandpur Medical College for studies. This is a big change,” he said.
In the morning, Shah unveiled a 120-foot-tall statue of a polo player riding a pony at Marjing Polo Complex in Manipur’s Imphal East district. He was given a polo mallet and a painting of the game by the chief minister.
Manipur is considered the birthplace of the game.
