Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday asked people to visit North Eastern States more for a better understanding.
“Delhi is the heart of the nation, but a country begins from the borders,” he said while addressing students at lady Shri Ram College for Women on Wednesday.
“There is nothing called mainstream — wherever I stand, wherever I live, that is mainstream for me. People say that the North East should join the mainstream, but that is conceptually wrong because every part of the country is mainstream,” Rijiju said and emphasised that without peace there is no prosperity.
Rijiju, who was at the Delhi University college to inaugurate a day-long event ‘Understanding Diversity’ focusing on the North-East, said he is immensely proud to be an Indian but also acknowledged the fact that there are certain things in the country which need to be corrected.
Describing the militants in the North-Eastern States as the “greatest destabilisers”, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju called upon them to shun violence, which he said was the only factor holding back the progress of the region.
“The North East region of India is home to almost 46 million people, which makes it nearly the same size as Germany, but it looks small because our country is enormous and the population density is immense,” he said.
Rijiju addressed the issue of violence and conflict politics in the North East, and said in some sense, we must take responsibility for it. He talked about having a dialogue with the “militants” as his belief is “with peace, prosperity follows.”
“Come and visit North East…once we remove violence, it is a biodiversity spot. God has blessed it with scenic beauty. It can be a delight for any visitor. Once peace prevails, prosperity will follow,” the Union Minister said.
The Minister compared the number of Parliament members from the North East to the number from UP and Maharashtra and said the number of MPs from the region is relatively less because despite the geographical size, the population is very scattered. Inviting the students to feel free to visit him in Parliament, he said he practices in using vocal powers in the supreme legislative body.
Addressing the issue of violence and conflict politics in the North East, the Minister said,”We must take responsibility for it in some sense. If we fail to elect right people at the right time, we must take part of the blame. The character of the politician, after all, is a reflection of the society he belongs to.”
The Principal of lSR, Dr. Suman Sharma said the idea behind organising such an event was to fill the knowledge and information gap between North Eastern States and the rest of the country. While talking to The Pioneer, Sharma said the college will make initiatives of having bigger seminar on the same lines.
“There has only been focus on the issue of violence in North East which has led to a knowledge and information gap. The place is full of cultural diversity, scenic beauty and rich tradition. We received a lot of response and hope to do more such programmes,” she further added.