Shri Narendra Modi addressed a massive crowd of supporters and karyakartas at the ‘Barak Vikas Samavesh’ rally at Silchar in Assam, on the afternoon of 22nd February.
Citing the Central government’s lack of vision and their focus on playing votebank politics and dividing people, Shri Modi spoke of how Assam too had been a victim of this by putting forth the unfairness of the Centre in treating the tea cultivators of two different regions of the same State differently. “Why is the Congress dividing Brahmaputra and Barak valley. Why are there different prices for the labour working on tea cultivation in both these regions. The government in Assam cannot do any good for you,” said Shri Modi, even as he emphasized on how the tea cultivators across Assam – who gave an identity to the State – were still living in pitiable conditions, and their families robbed of good education and work opportunities. He went on to add how the neighbouring state of Bangladesh was proving to be a threat for the people of Assam, while, on the flip side, in Gujarat it was Shri Modi who was proving to be the cause of worry for the neighbouring state of Pakistan.
Highlighting the grave concern of influx by Bangladeshis, Shri Modi said, “Some people have come to fulfill people's aspirations of votebank politics, while others have come whose lives have been ruined there in Bangladesh.”
He also spoke of how the lives of many Hindus faced a threat in Bangladesh, due to lack of proper security and development modules, and urged the people of Assam to show their support for those who had their lives ruined in Bangladesh and had come to India to seek refuge. “Be it any nation, if a Hindu is troubled then there is only one place and that is where the Hindu will come. Should they be treated in the same way as they are treated elsewhere? No we cannot,” said Shri Modi while citing the example of initiation of comprehensive schemes, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji’s rule, for Hindus who had returned from Pakistan, and laying emphasis on how they were relocated to different parts of India instead of putting the entire burden on Gujarat or Rajasthan. “Only Assam taking in the Hindus from Bangladesh is not proper. All states must contribute and they must get treated well,” opined Shri Modi.
He also stressed on sending back those infiltrators who had entered Assam for political purposes by stating that their existence in the State would rob its people of innumerable growth opportunities. “The infiltrators who have come for political purposes must be sent back there. The right of people cannot be snatched like this,” stated Shri Modi.
Expressing his displeasure at the appalling condition of people in the State and taking a dig at the anxiety that grips Assam’s CM when he hears of Shri Modi’s visit to the State, Shri Modi said, “I have heard when your CM comes to know I am coming he gets sleepless nights. Your CM came here a few days ago and made promises on things that have not been happening for years...do not trust the Congress ever. Where was your CM when there were floods in 2012? He was in USA and went to Japan then. When your CM was asked, he said I had gone to study flood management. Can we trust our future in such hands.”
Shri Modi also spoke of how the Prime Minister of India, inspite of being an MP from Assam, did not know as much about the State as Shri Modi knew from his extensive travelling all over Assam.
Shri Modi asserted that inspite of being a blessed state with abundant natural resources, Assam had been looted by the votebank politics of the Central government. “The Assam Government cannot rise over votebank politics. The way they have abused human rights in the name of detention camps is appalling,” said Shri Modi. He also spoke of the sacrifice of Arjun, and said, “Arjun did not die for himself. He died for the sake of lakhs of people suffering in detention camps. After forming the government we will finish the detention camps.”
“Why cannot we have a hospital like AIIMS and IIM here,” retorted Shri Modi, while calling for the need to have better infrastructure and well-defined promising policies for the people of Assaam.
Acknowledging and appreciating the massive crowd that had gathered to listen to him, Shri Modi said that never had such a wave been seen in Assam as the one that was witnessed there, and spoke of how he believed that this wave would soon turn into a tsunami during the 2014 elections and wash away the presence of Congress from the country. “2014 Elections mark the beginning of the end of the Congress. India will become Congress Mukt,” said Shri Modi. He further added, “The nation and our youth cannot wait any further. The poor and youth are suffering,” and urged the people to support the BJP in the 2014 elections and thereby bring about the much-needed change for the Nation.
