Amit Shah visit to Assam: North East has emerged as India's growth engine under Narendra Modi, says Union home minister

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the North East has emerged as the growth engine of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Modi considers the North East as the focal point for the nation’s development and has visited the region “30 times in the last six years and each time, he has come with some gifts”. Speaking at a programme to launch various projects, Shah said Assam has embarked on a journey of peace and development under Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. “Assam was earlier known for agitations and violence, but Sonowal and Sarma have unified the people of the state and the region with the rest of the country by upholding and promoting heritage and traditions,” he said. Shah said NDA’s triumph in the just-concluded Bodoland Territorial Council polls was like a semifinal before the Assembly elections in which it will emerge winners with a huge majority. The home minister said all militant organisations in the state have surrendered and returned to the mainstream. He also urged farmers agitating against the new agriculture laws to resolve their issues through discussions. Shah on Saturday laid the foundation stone of a medical college and nine law institutes, besides launching two other projects in Assam during his visit to the state. All four projects were launched centrally from the Kumar Bhaskar Barman Kshetra at Amingaon here in presence of Sonowal, Sarma, Union Minister for Food Processing Rameshwar Teli, and others. The Union home minister laid the foundation stone of Guwahati’s second medical college and hospital which will beset up by amalgamating the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Chest Hospital at an estimated amount of Rs 755 crore, officials said. Shah also laid the foundation stone of nine law colleges to be set up at Diphu, Silchar, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, North Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Nalbari, Rangia, and Raha. He launched the development and beautification project of Batadrava ‘Than’ at Borduwa in Nagaon district, the birthplace of 15th century Vaishnav reformer-saint Srimanta Sankardeva, at an estimated cost of Rs 188 crore. The ‘Than’ or Vaishnav monastery will be developed as a centre of art, culture, research, and spirituality, officials said. Shah also launched the third phase of the “Asom Darshan” scheme to protect places of worship of different faiths. In this phase, 8,000 ‘Naamghars’ (Vaishnav prayer and community halls) which are over 50 years old will be given Rs 2.5 lakh each, they said. Shah arrived here on Friday night at Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport and was welcomed by Sonowal, his cabinet colleagues, BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass, the saffron party’s Assam in-charge Baijayant Jay Panda and others. More than 3,000 artistes belonging to different communities welcomed him with traditional dances while the entire way from the airport to the PWD Inspection Bungalow at Amingaon, where he is staying, was illuminated with more than 10,000 earthen lamps.