Will protect Northeast's languages, culture, tradition, food, Amit Shah tells Chief Ministers

Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the government will protect the language, culture, food habits and tradition of people of Northeast India, and solve all the problems of the region.

"We will protect the culture, language, dance forms, tradition and food habits of Northeast India and ensure it shines across the country," Shah said at a meeting with chief ministers of the northeastern states in Shillong. "We want all the problems of the region to be solved, and ensure there is peace, there is no poverty or unrest, and that Northeast India regains its pristine glory when it was the highest contributor of India's GDP in the pre Independence era... We are close to achieving all these."

The meeting reviewed operations of regional space centre North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC). Shah also inaugurated an inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) in Shillong.


"Our government under Prime minister Narendra Modi felt that Northeast India really requires connectivity, without which there cannot be security, there will be regional disparity, and there can be no development," he said.

He said Modi wanted to connect all the state capitals of Northeast India by railways and air connectivity by 2024. "We have also tried to connect the region through information and technology."

Shah said 650,000 families are connected with Jan Dhan Yojana in Meghalaya alone and the state is open-defecation free. Further, the government will pump in '156 crore to provide tap water to 339,000 people in the state under Jal Jeevan Mission, he said.