PM Narendra Modi seeks to placate people from North-East

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today sought to placate the people from North-East who have been referred to as "immigrants" by BJP in its vision document for Delhi polls, saying his party has accepted its mistake and assured them that the region will see more progress under him than what it saw in the last 60 years.

Terming the attack by AAP and Congress over the issue as "attempts to incite" the North-Eastern community, Modi alleged that they were trying to harm the unity of the country.

"I can see that attempts are being made to incite our brothers and sisters from North-East for the last two days. The party (BJP) has said the word (immigrant) was wrong. The party has accepted its mistake. There should not be an attempt to harm the unity of this country," he said in an election rally here.

Noting that he had extensively travelled across the region during the Lok Sabha campaign, Modi said he had pledged to bring more development to the region against what it had seen in the last 60 years. "I want to assure you that it will be done."

He also noted that when large number of youths from the North-Eastern states had fled Bangaluru in 2012 due to some rumours against them, the then BJP-ruled Karnataka Home Minister had gone there to convince them to return.

"The (state) Home Minister himself went, met those people and brought them back. We (BJP) are people who believe in such works. Elections will come and go but there should be no crack in national harmony," he said.