PM: And now for the other six sister states

Congress-led Meghalaya, Manipur next

Standing at the gateway to the Northeast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made it clear that from here on his party would begin the march to capture the remaining six states that make up the seven sisters of India’s Northeast. After demolishing the Congress in Assam, the BJP is ready to gun for Congress-ruled Manipur and Meghalaya next.

Addressing a public rally at the ceremony in Guwahati to swear in Sarbananda Sonowal as the new chief minister of Assam, the Prime Minister said Assam will soon become the epicentre of growth for the entire South Asian region. “The dreams of the people who have given BJP the mandate will come true,” the Prime Minister declared.

Promising “achche din” for Assam, Mr Modi said the Centre and the state government will leave no stone unturned to change the future of Assam.

“I am sure Sarbananda Sonowal and his team will work very hard to transform Assam,” the Prime Minister said in his speech in Hindi.

“A leader belonging to the tribal community, a leader dedicated to serving people and society is now Assam’s chief minister,” he added.

While expressing his gratitude to the people of the state, Mr Modi in his short speech said, “Democracy is about bhagidari (partnership). The Centre and the states must walk shoulder to shoulder for development.”

Assuring the people that the government in New Delhi would now always be standing with the Assam government, Mr Modi said, “The Central government believes in cooperative federalism. We want to give the states maximum strength and enable them to progress.”

BJP president Amit Shah, speaking earlier at the same venue, said, “Development can truly come to Assam now after the state being denied it since the last decade.” Mr Shah pointed out, “There are 14 NDA chief ministers here, and we are ecstatic that there is a BJP chief minister leading Assam.” Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who was the only BJP chief minister (other than Mr Sonowal) to address the public, said, “History has been created in Assam. You have voted the BJP to power. Whichever state has a BJP-NDA government has seen fast-paced growth and development. I can say this with certainty, that Assam will grow leaps and bounds.”

Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu also addressed the public meeting, held after the swearing-in ceremony.

The oath-taking ceremony was planned as a BJP show of strength following its first election victory in the Northeast.