Previous governments didn't look East, we got Delhi to you, Prime Minister says in NorthEast

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that while the previous government had ignored the Northeast, he has got entire Delhi to the doorsteps of the people of the region.

Modi visited Manipur and Tripura where he inaugurated or laid the foundation stones of 22 projects worth more than '4,800 crore.

Manipur will go to assembly polls in the coming months, while in Tripura, elections are scheduled for early next year.


"The previous government had a fixed policy about the Northeast - it was, 'don't look East'. They used to look here only during elections, but we are acting East," Modi said, addressing a public meeting in Imphal. "I had been in Manipur several times ... even when I was not PM. I knew the pain that people of Manipur have. Therefore, after 2014, I got entire Delhi to the doorsteps of the people of Northeast, to the doorsteps of people of Manipur," he added.

Now in Manipur and the rest of Northeast peace is returning, youths are returning to mainstream and many key peace deals have been done, the PM said. "We have to maintain peace and take Manipur toward development."

Speaking on the developmental projects undertaken by the BJP governments at the Centre and the state, he said only 6% of the people in Manipur had piped water a few years ago, but now 60% of the houses have that and soon it would become 100%.

While noting that his Cabinet has five "prominent ministers" from the Northeast, Modi said his government was giving importance to connectivity in the region.

In Tripura, the Prime Minister said earlier there were "brakes" in the state's development as the previous government didn't have the vision, mission and mindset for development, and there was rampant corruption.Stressing on the benefits of having the same party ruling at the Centre and in the state, he told a public gathering in Agartala: "After the BJP government came to Tripura (in 2018), the double-engine governments are developing the state through the 'HIRA' (highways, Internet, railways and airways) model."