Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Meghalaya’s Shillong to participate in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the North Eastern Council on Sunday.
PM Modi said that his government has given a ‘red card’ to all obstacles like backwardness, corruption, unrest and political favoritism in North East India.
Addressing the audience at a football field, the PM used sporting references to make his point. PM Modi said, “In football, when someone plays against the spirit of the game, he is given a red card and sent out. Similarly, in the last 8 years in the Northeast, we have witnessed underdevelopment, corruption, political favoritism and unrest. Red cards have been given to obstacles like this.”
The PM said that his government is focusing on the development of sports in the Northeast with the country’s first National Sports University and 90 major sports projects underway in the region.
He said, “It is a coincidence that when the final of the Football World Cup is happening today, I am here in Shillong rallying among football fans at a football ground. There (in Qatar) a football tournament is going on and here A development competition.”
PM said, “Today the World Cup is in Qatar, and we are celebrating for foreign teams, but I assure you that the day is not far when we will host such global sports events and our tricolor will fly high Will fly and we will celebrate for ourselves.”
The PM also took credit for increasing air connectivity in the region.
He said, “Before 2014, only 900 flights were available in the Northeast in a week and now there are 1900 flights.”
He also said that better air connectivity is helping the farmers of the Northeast through the Krishi Udaan scheme.
Krishi Udaan Yojana was launched in August 2020. Its objective is to assist farmers in the transportation of agricultural products on both national and international routes, so that they can get a fair price.
On telecom connectivity, PM Modi said that the Northeast will get 6,000 mobile towers and the Center is spending Rs 5,000 crore for this.
Along with this, PM talked about various development schemes, which include 150 upcoming Eklavya Model Schools.
Along with this, the focus has been on schemes like Parvatmala Yojana and PM-Devine Project for the Northeast. He targeted the previous central governments.
“The previous governments at the Center had a ‘divide’ northeast approach and we have a ‘divine’ approach for the region,” he said.
He said that his government is working towards ensuring peace by resolving conflicts in the region.
The PM said, “For us, the border areas in the Northeast are not the last mile, but our main pillar. We are working on the Vibrant Border Village Project for the development of villages along the border. The previous government thought that we would develop the border. If we do, then the enemy country will be benefited, but we are going to make the border areas our strongest stronghold. We are working on better connectivity, roads etc. to the border villages.”
The PM also referred to his Vatican visit last year and said, “Last year, I went to Vatican City and met the Pope. I invited him to India and that meeting had a great impact on me. How important is the unity of humanity for us. We are taking forward the politics of peace and development, the tribal community is benefiting a lot from this.”
PM Modi earlier attended the golden jubilee celebrations of the North East Council (NEC) and laid the foundation stone of several projects at a public function in Shillong.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers and governors of eight northeastern states also participated in the golden jubilee celebrations of NEC, a regional planning body set up in 1972 to plan and implement developmental projects for eight northeastern states.
In the public function held in Shillong, PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several projects worth more than Rs 2450 crore.
From Shillong, the PM traveled to Tripura’s Agartala, where he addressed a public meeting at Swami Vivekananda Maidan on Sunday and inaugurated some projects as well as lay the foundation stone for some other projects worth over Rs 4,350 crore. He also launched the “Griha Pravesh” program for the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (both urban and rural).
