The Union Minister of Home Affairs & Cooperation – Amit Shah on Saturday sought five years’ time to fully solve the perennial flood issue in Assam; and stated that the administration is striving to make the natural calamity, a “part of the history”.
Addressing a BJP workers’ meeting after inaugurating the party’s newly-constructed state office, Shah claimed that an “ambitious” flood mitigation project is being prepared at the moment under the aegis of the North Eastern Council (NEC).
“In the BJP manifesto, we pledged to create an Assam which will be free from terrorism, corruption and floods. First two have already been accomplished. Give us another five years, we’ll make Assam free from floods,” – he said.
According to a state government website, almost every year, three to four waves of flood ravage Assam and the average annual loss due to the disaster has reached to the tune of Rs 200 crores.
“Within five years, the deluge will become a part of the history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to make Assam a ‘flood-free’ state,” – he added.
The Union Home Minister also stated that the party believes in strengthening internal security so that laws like Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) are not needed in society and its application is already withdrawn from around 80 per cent of the Northeastern region.
“AFSPA is protection for army and security forces. Rahul Gandhi had announced that AFSPA would be withdrawn if his party’s government comes to power. I had said that security forces need to be strengthened,” he added.
Taking a dig at the Congress’ ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Shah claimed that former PM Jawaharlal Nehru had said goodbye to Assam during the 1962 India-China war and the grand old party had forgotten that Northeast even existed.
“This region is three times the size of UP and it was full of separatist and insurgent movements. The Congress watched silently the attempts to break NE. Only Modi worked for this place and united the NE. The Congress and those who went for (its) ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, please listen. This is an example of how Northeast was united without giving a single lecture,” he added.
