Development in Northeast is govt’s top priority: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Citing initiatives undertaken in the Northeastern region under the Narendra Modi government, BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Prime Minister believes that the region will be the “engine of India’s growth” and hence the development of North East is “our top priority.” Mr Shah was addressing the second conclave of North East Demorcatic Alliance (Neda), a political alliance of nearly 11 political outfits in the region. Mr Shah claimed that the three-year- old Modi government has done “several times more work” in the region than the Congress had in 65 years.

After forming government in three states — Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and gaining ground in rest of the states in the region, the BJP is hopeful of winning the coming Assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Addressing the inaugural session of the Neda, Mr Shah said the region was top priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and development of the eight states is a must for overall growth of the country. The meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Safe borders, inclusive development and national integration were on the agenda at the day-long Neda meeting.

“The development done by the Modi government in the last three years for the long-neglected north-eastern region is several times more than the work done by Congress-led governments in the last 65 years,” said Mr Shah while adding that the work has not finished but just started.

Citing numerous initiatives of the Modi government for the region, Mr Shah said a Union minister visited one of the eight states in the region every 15 days. Terming the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh a milestone in the history of the north-east, the BJP president said the government is committed to the overall development of the area.