BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday sought to lay out an ambitious plan to unite and include all eight Chief Ministers of the North-East in the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). With Assembly polls slated ahead in Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram, the second NEDA conclave here discussed complete sealing of the border, stopping illegal migration from Bangladesh, and publishing of national register of citizenship.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Besides, the conference was also attended by Union Minister for Home Kiren Rijiju and Minister in charge of DONER (Development of North-Eastern Region) Jitendra Singh , BJP general secretaries Ram Madhav and Ram lal and convener of NEDA and a senior Minister in Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma.
NEDA is aiming to unite all non-Congress parties in the region for “a Congress-Mukt Bharat”, said Sarma after the meeting.
In his opening remark to the conclave Shah said the speed of development work in the North-East in last three-years has been unprecedented.
“The development done by the Modi Government in the last three years for the long-neglected north-eastern region is several times more than the work done by Congress-led Governments in the last 65 years,” Shah said. The BJP chief said the development work in the North-East has just begun and the border region is in the top priorities of the Prime Minister.
Shah said Prime Minster wants all eight CMs to be
part of NEDA for an integrated development of the important region.
“It is our endeavour to unite all the northeastern States... Narendra bhai (PM Modi) has called it the Ashtalakshmi (the eight lakshmis, known to be the goddess of prosperity),” he said in his opening address at
the conclave.
The BJP has Governments in three of the eight northeast’s States of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh as it has its allies in the NEDA another two, Nagaland and Sikkim. Assembly elections are due in the three non-NEDA States — Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
Elections in left-ruled Tripura and will be held later this year. Congress-ruled Mizoram and Meghalaya will go for polls early next year.
NEDA is a coalition of the BJP and five regional parties from the northeast which was formed soon after the BJP won the Assembly elections in Assam in 2016. The main mover of the NEDA was BJP’s Sarma, who had crossed over to the BJP from the Congress.
After the meeting Rijiju said entire North-East has to come to one platform and maintained that NEDA was not only a political platform. He said it would also unify the N-E region culturally, socially and economically. He said immediately after Modi-Government assumed power there was steep decline in insurgency activities as many extremist outfits were talked to and with others negotiations were underway.
The Minister said peace negotiations with NSCN (IM) was on a right track and soon a peace agreement would be sealed. He referred to the lifting of roadblock in Manipur and “restoring of harmony” between hill and plain people as also setting up of a check-post in Indo-Mayanmar border.
Singh said connectivity with the North-East has increased speedily with the construction of rail tracks, helipads and airports.