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Journalism of Courage
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday accused the Congress of “using the northeast as an ATM and siphoning off money meant for the region’s development”, during a public rally in Nagaland’s Dimapur.
“Nagaland always underwent political instability when the Congress was in power. Congress leaders used the northeast as an ATM and siphoned off money that was meant for the region’s development,” he said, adding that the grand old party remote-controlled the Northeast from Delhi.
“We do not see Nagaland and the eight states of Northeast as an ATM, for us it’s ‘Ashta Lakshmi’,” Modi said.
PM Modi said he was seeing a lot of public support for the BJP-NDPP government, and that Nagaland was riding on a wave of ‘vikas‘ and ‘vishwas‘. “We worked hard to ensure Northeast’s culture and talent can be utilised to its full potential. We have tried to reduce the distance between Northeast and Delhi. In the last 9 years, I have come amidst you all dozens of times. Even Union ministers have been regularly visiting the state,” Modi said.
Speaking about the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA), PM Modi said, “The government is striving to bring permanent peace in Nagaland so AFSPA is completely lifted from the state.” He also said violence in the state has reduced by almost 75 per cent in the last 9 years.
“Permanent progress and peace are the foundation of BJP’s policy in Nagaland,” the PM said.
Appreciating Nagaland’s BJP president, PM Modi also said, “The whole country enjoys listening to Temjen Imna Along,” drawing cheers from the crowd. “He is representing Nagaland and the Northeast in an amazing way on digital platforms, and even I try to keep track of what he is up to on social media,” he said.
Voting for the 60-member Nagaland legislative Assembly is scheduled to take place on February 27, and the results will be declared on March 2.
