Bhubaneswar: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Saturday asserted that the Northeast has undergone a sea change in the last decade from being the “last line” for developmental activities to emerging as the “first line” for growth as India seeks to do more business with Southeast Asia.
Speaking on the theme ‘Reaching the last mile: Developing the rest of India’ at a programme in the Odisha capital, the Assam chief minister recalled his childhood days, when, he said, words such as ‘AK-47’, ‘9mm’ and ‘Chinese arms’ were part of the common vocabulary.
“We grew up in an environment when agitations, grenade explosions and road blockades happened frequently… Things, however, changed rapidly after 2014,” he said.
“I am 54 years old now. In our childhood days in Assam, during social encounters, discussions were held on how to stage demonstrations or block the CRPF’s way. I could not go to school for two years as it was closed due to violence,” he said.
Sarma said that though the Assam agitation started in a democratic manner, later it took a violent turn.
“Soon, people who did not raise a hand on anybody had AK-47s in their hands. We lost many precious lives due to unrest. Tribal militancy also started in Assam. The situation was similar in Manipur and Nagaland,” he said.
Sarma said that there were instances when 15 grenade blasts took place in a day in Assam and people faced a shortage of ambulances and doctors in hospitals.
“There was massive poverty in Tripura… People did not know what their fate would be if they went to Nagaland. In Arunachal Pradesh, there was pressure from China on one hand, whereas the then Indian government had a notion that border areas should not undergo development,” he claimed.
“There were days when Assam and the Northeast felt abandoned,” he added.
However, things changed rapidly from 2014 and people now feel there is a government in Delhi that looks after issues of the Northeast, Sarma said.
He said many youths, who had taken up arms, have returned to the mainstream and the region has been on a growth trajectory.
“An AIIMS has been established, a refinery has come up and talks are underway for setting up semi-conductor industry. Assam has been registering a growth of 17 per cent,” he claimed.
“Tripura airport is three times bigger than Bhubaneswar airport. The picture of Northeast has gradually changed. It is sometimes hard to believe that this is the same region that has been undergoing such massive development,” Sarma said.
He said the country’s overall development is directly linked with the progress of Assam, Odisha, West Bengal and Northeast.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the function, he said the BJP was expanding its footprint in Odisha and it is a matter of time before the party forms the government in the state.
PTI