‘Centre showed red card to challenges in Northeast’, PM Modi says in Meghalaya

The football World Cup is being held in Qatar this time, but it won’t be long before India organises such global events, he said, adding that the Indian Tricolour will fly high in those events.

Taking a dig at erstwhile Congress-led governments at the Centre, he said those governments used an approach of “divide” in the Northeast region, while the BJP-led government in New Delhi has adopted a “divine” approach towards the region.

In an oblique reference to his government’s ongoing peace talks with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) and Naga nationalist political parties, PM Modi said his government was working towards peace in the region and in solving conflicts. “Border areas in Northeast India are not the last miles of the country for us. Instead, they are our main pillars. We are working on developing the border villages, like the Vibrant Border Village project,” he added.

Blaming Congress-led governments, PM Modi said the previous governments thought developing bordering areas would only prove beneficial to enemy countries and pointed out that his government, on the other hand, started working for better connectivity, roads, etc to border villages and strived to turn border areas into India’s strongest bastions.

Speaking on the progress in Meghalaya, he said nearly 2 lakh households received electric connection for the first time and 3 lakh households got safe drinking water.

Extending “advance wishes” ahead of Christmas, PM Modi also referred to his trip to the Vatican City last year and said the meeting with the Pope had a “great impact” on him. He said the two discussed the importance of unity and added that his government was pushing for the politics of peace and development.

Underlining the Centre’s push for sports development in the Northeast states, Modi said northeast India now has the nation’s first sports university, adding that 90 major sports projects were underway in the region.