Amit Shah: PM Narendra Modi regards Northeast as Ashta Lakshmi

The programme was attended by Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, industrialist Ratan Tata, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu.

BJP president Amit Shah delivers a speech in Guwahati on Monday, June 18, 2018. (PTI Photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi refers to the northeastern states as ‘Ashta Lakshmi’ (eight forms of the goddess of wealth) and with development, the region will make a big contribution to the country’s GDP, BJP president Amit Shah said on Monday.

“The Prime Minister always says that Northeast is the roop of Ashta Lakshmi for India…With development this Ashta Lakshmi will contribute largely to India’s GDP,” he said.

Speaking at a ceremony for laying foundation stone for a three-level cancer care grid in Guwahati, Shah said, “For the last two years, there has been a BJP government in Assam. Before that for 15 years there was Congress government. And in the entire Northeast, for most of the time after Independence, there was Congress government. I have no hesitation in saying that at the time of Independence the then united Assam was probably the largest contributor to India’s GDP. That went down.

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“Now time has again come for the contribution of Assam and other northeastern states to increase in the country’s GDP,” he added.

The programme was attended by Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, industrialist Ratan Tata, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu. The state government in partnership with Tata Trusts — under the banner of Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF) — is establishing the first-of-its-kind cancer care grid in the state with a corpus of around Rs 2,000 crore.

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