Article 371 would not be removed from Northeast ever : Shah

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : “People from different states of India have different ways of greeting each other, but only Arunachalis greet each other with ‘Jai Hind’, which is a shining example of patriotic fervour for the rest of India,” said Union Home Minister Amit Shah while presiding over the 34^th Statehood Day celebrations of Arunachal Pradesh at Itanagar on February 20, 2020.

Talking about PM Narendra Modi’s vision of connecting Northeast, especially Arunachal, with the country, Shah said that the Government of India is committed to safeguard the fundamental rights, culture, heritage and traditions of all the 27 tribes and over 120 sub- tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. He also pointed out that after the removal of article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir a lot of rumour-mongering happened in Northeast that article 371 would also be removed. “On this statehood day of Arunachal and Mizoram, I want to assure the people that article 371 would not be removed from the North East. Such rumours are only a ploy to drive a wedge between the Northeast and rest of the country,” he said.

Shah inaugurated a bouquet of projects and schemes for the State including launch of Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy 2020; Laying of Foundation stone for Police Headquarters at Itanagar; construction of new apartments for MLAs and residential complexes for senior government officers at Chimpu, worth over Rs 140 crore; façade lighting of AP Civil secretariat complex, Joram-Koloriang road of BRO falling under Lower Subansiri, 256-slice CT Scanner at TRIHMS, Naharlagun, and Inter-state truck terminal near ISBT, Naharlagun; and flagging off of 148 Sanitation Vehicles for all Urban towns of Arunachal Pradesh.

Cleanest Village awards were also given away to seven villages : Norbuling, Natun Kheti, Yaglung, Tikhak Taipi, Singchung, Namet and Nongtaw Shyam. Expressing confidence that the launch of Arunachal Pradesh industrial and investment policy 2020 will boost economic growth in the State, Shah said that with this fast paced growth Arunachal will play an important role in achieving PM Narendra Modi’s vision of India becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2024, according to a PIB release.

Shah said that before 2014, Northeast was integrated only on geographical and administrative terms with the rest of India. It was only after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister that the Northeast developed an emotional connect with the rest of India. He added that every Indian believes that development of North East and its people is the prime responsibility of the whole country. Similarly, every citizen of the Northeast believes that the safety and security of the extensive border regions of the country in the Northeast is their responsibility. Shah noted that such an emotional connect with rest of India should have developed long ago, but Northeast was used only as an aid to form and bring down governments in the past.

He said that it was PM Modi who decided for the first time after independence that every fortnight a Union Minister would visit the Northeast and review the development works on the ground. Shah said that Arunachal Pradesh has witnessed over 200 visits by Union Ministers in the last 5 years. This includes over 30 visits by the Prime Minister himself to the Northeast, which was unheard of till now, he added.

Shah informed that in Modi regime, the developmental budget allocation for the Northeast in the Finance Commission (FC) saw a sharp rise of over 200% during the 14^th FC compared to the 13^th FC. In addition, there has been a rise of 24% in union budget allocation, a 65% rise in the DoNER Ministry budget and in the last 5 years 477 new projects worth over Rs 3,500 crore have become operational in the Northeast. He also informed that in a recent decision, 33% of the NEC budget would be allocated for the development of backward villages.