Congress 'misrule' isolated Northeast: Prime Minister Modi

Guwahati: Launching a sharp attack on the Congress ahead of this year's Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Assam and the Northeast had remained cut off from the national mainstream due to the party's "misrule".

Modi, who arrived in Assam on a two-day visit, attended a traditional Bodo cultural programme in Guwahati, where around 10,000 artistes performed the Bagurumba dance, a signature cultural expression of the Bodo community.

He alleged that successive Congress governments had neglected Assam's development. "It was the Congress that opposed our decision to confer the Bharat Ratna on late Bhupen Hazarika. A Congress minister in Karnataka, who is also the son of the party's national president, opposed the semiconductor project in Assam," Modi said.


The Prime Minister claimed that Congress' "vote-bank politics" had fuelled instability in the region. "Problems and violence grew because of Congress misrule. The party never listened to the voices of the people, which led to unrest and secessionist tendencies," he said.

He further alleged that during Congress rule, "doors were opened for infiltrators" for electoral gains. "Infiltration continued unchecked under Congress governments," he added.

Praising the recent eviction drives carried out by the BJP government in Assam, Modi said the administration led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had freed lakhs of bighas of land from encroachment. He said the "double-engine" BJP government was working to undo the damage caused by earlier regimes.