The Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 9^th, 2019, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government wants to make the entire country free from intruders. He assured the Northeastern states that not a single intruder will live in Assam nor will they go to other states.

“I want to assure all the states of Northeast that not a single intruder will live in Assam nor will they go to other states because we do not want to free Assam only from the intruders but to free the entire country from the intruders,”

Citizenship Bill & Article 371

Talking about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the convention, the Union Minister said, “There are some concerns about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and Article 371 in the Northeastern states. I want to clarify that Article 370 was a temporary provision and Article 371 is a special provision. This is the right of the Northeast. No one can take it away.”

On September 8^th, 2019, Shah said that the centre would not abrogate Article 371 that grants special status to most of the Northeastern states. It may be mentioned that there was speculation that the central government might abrogate the Article from the region as it abrogated Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Shah claims development in NE

Amit Shah further claimed remarkable development in all aspects in the Northeastern region of the country under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convention, Shah said, “We used to hear that the identity of Northeast is terrorism, infiltration, drugs, corruption, tribe tension. But, in the last five years under the leadership of Modi ji we have moved towards development, connectivity, infrastructure, sports and peace.”

Slamming the Congress, Shah said, “The Congress created so many fights between tribes in the Northeast, between states and between cultures and languages ​​that the entire region became a victim of unrest. But, after formation of the Modi government in 2014, there has been only development politics, due to which the entire Northeast has become Congress-free.”

Citing the PM Modi’s slogan that ‘North East means – New Engine of Indian Growth’, Shah said, “NEDA is not just an alliance of eight states. We have worked to understand the feelings of small parties and connect them. As a result of this, NEDA gave 19 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats of North East to Modi.”

Photo credit: via @AmitShah