In what may be considered a response to the recent criticism the NDA government has been facing over the handling of Manipur violence, Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flaunted the progress achieved in the North East under the Narendra Modi-led government signaling a transformative era of connectivity and development for the region.
In a series of tweets, Assam CM Sarma highlighted the long-standing challenges faced by the North Eastern states, such as geographical isolation, political instability, and imbalanced development, which he attributed to the intentional divide-and-rule tactics employed by previous Congress governments.
“No Central Government, since 1947, has invested so much political capital in a region, where some states send just 1 MP to the LS. Consider this, in 2023 for the first time a Union HM stayed overnight in an Arunachal town close to the China border and spent a night in Nagaland,” Sarma tweeted.
He revealed that since 2014, a staggering Rs 3.64 lakh crore had been spent on the region under the Gross Budgetary Support Scheme of the Union Budget, leading to a significant boost in infrastructure and development projects. Consequently, he viewed that several long-standing conflicts in the region were resolved within the nine-year span, including the Bodo and Karbi conflicts in Assam, the issues of Brus in Mizoram, and the NLFT insurgency in Tripura. Additionally, the region witnessed a notable 74% reduction in insurgency and an 89% decrease in civilian deaths, which was attributed to an improved security climate rather than a mere agitation against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
“Not just insurgency, we had infighting. Ad hoc formation of North Eastern States by the Cong meant states were fighting with states on boundary issues for 50 years or more. Most such matters involving Assam, Arunachal, Meghalaya & Nagaland are nearing amicable resolution,” he said.
In terms of physical connectivity, CM Sarma revealed a massive increase in investments for infrastructure projects. “From 1947 to 2014, expenditure on infrastructure projects in the North East was Rs 2 lakh crore. From 2014 till date, this figure stands at Rs 7 lakh crore. The National Highway network has expanded 86% in the last 9 years,” he said, adding that the allocation for Rail Expansion in the North East has increased by 263% in the last 9 years. For the first time ever, all Seven Sisters States will be connected by a common rail network. 2000 km of track is either being laid or upgraded at a cost of Rs 75,000 cr.
Furthermore, he said that the North East experienced a staggering 90% increase in airports, turning it into the fastest-growing air traffic zone in the country. Additionally, he said 20 rivers in the region have now become part of the National Waterways, further enhancing connectivity.
“A Rs 9000 cr gas pipeline will connect us to the Nation’s Gas Grid and months within its launch, we are on the 5G map,” he added. Sarma claimed that the biggest evidence of this holistic transformation of connectivity in the North East is that “for 2 consecutive times, 7 states in our region have voted for the NDA in State and Parliamentary elections.”
“Empty vessels make more noise but action speaks louder than words!” he concluded.