Cong neglected Northeast: PM

Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the Congress during a massive rally in Guwahati on Saturday, accusing the party of decades of neglect toward the Northeast and fostering instability in Assam while it held power.The PM was in the poll-bound Assam on a day-long visit during which he inaugurated a six-lane bridge over the Brahmaputra, an emergency landing facility, and launched projects collectively worth over Rs 5,500 crore.

Addressing BJP workers at a rally here, Modi alleged that security threats and a climate of fear defined Congress’s years in the state. “The Congress indulged in polarisation and vote bank politics, and took decisions that promoted these,” he said.

The PM drew a sharp historical parallel, invoking Partition to frame his critique of the current opposition ecosystem. “The partition of the country took place due to the Muslim League, but now there is ‘MMC’ — Maoist, Muslim, Congress — and people should be aware,” he declared. The PM accused the Congress of protecting infiltrators, but the BJP is “committed to end illegal immigration, and so the next five years are very important for the state”.

He also claimed that the Congress, being out of power in Assam for 10 years, is “more dangerous than when it was in power, and this is evident from the venomous statements made by its leaders”.

For seven decades, the Congress built only three bridges over the Brahmaputra, but the BJP government constructed five bridges in 10 years, he asserted.

The PM said all-round development is taking place in Assam due to the efforts of the BJP government.