Ties with neighbours will transform northeast, says Amit Shah

Amit Shah on Sunday addressed the third conclave of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-led coalition of several regional parties from eight north-eastern states.

BJP chief Amit Shah with North East Democratic Alliance convener Himanta Biswa Sarma and Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal during the NEDA conclave in Guwahati Sunday. (Photo by Dasarath Deka)

BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday said improved relations with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will transform the economy of the Northeast and generate much higher growth. Shah Sunday addressed the third conclave of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-led coalition of several regional parties from eight north-eastern states. Six chief ministers of Northeastern states — Nagaland’s Neiphiu Rio, Meghlaya’s Conrad Sangma, Tripura’s Biplab Deb, Assam’s Sarbananda Sonowal, Manipur’s N Biren Singh and Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu — attended the day-long meet here, along with other regional party leaders.

“The Prime Minister’s initiative to sign the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh will lead to development in the region and within five to 10 years the ports in the neighbouring countries will carry goods produced in the Northeast,” Shah said. The agreement will also open the Bangladesh market for products manufactured in the Northeast, whose narrative has changed from “briefcase politics to development politics”, Shah said.

“This is the third sitting of the NEDA and I am happy to say that the third time we are meeting, we have moved ahead in the direction we had envisaged to achieve for NEDA. In 2016, when NEDA was formed, that day in Assam the BJP won. In the Assam elections, when I used to make rounds, our workers of all eight northeastern states… appeared to be thinking about their own states. It was then that a thought came to mind, that if all of Northeast had to feel united with the rest of India (ekatmata ka anubhav karana hai), we would have to make such a forum which can represent all of the Northeast. That is what NEDA was born out of,” he said.

The BJP leader said it was then that the BJP decided the NEDA would not just be a political alliance or a regional or geographical alliance, but in fact, “a geo-cultural alliance” that enjoys popular support of all eight states. He said that PM Narendra Modi’s ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ would end secessionist tendencies in the Northeast, which bore the brunt of the “badnaami” of Congress rule that was responsible for bringing down the region’s GDP from one of the highest in pre-Independent India.

“Northeast’s vikas, samrud sankruti, geographic importance, all of these have been held up. And through the BJP-led NEDA we will remove sankeerntavad from the Northeast. When all of India thinks about the Northeast and the whole of Northeast thinks itself an integral part of India, then only will NEDA succeed. When someone tries to do bhed in such a small region with so many cultures and differences, it is natural for algawad to spread. But Narendra Modi’s mantra of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ is succeeding in freeing all of the Northeast from algawad,” Shah said. Earlier in the day, Akhil Gogoi, an anti-corruption activist and leader of a farmers’ body, and his supporters were detained for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016.

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