Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday accused the Congress of leaving the borders open and allowing infiltrators into Assam, saying the BJP government would resolve the issue within five years if it returns to power in the northeastern state.
Speaking at the launch of the second phase of the Vibrant Villages Program (VVP-II) at Nathanpur village near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Cachar district of Assam, Shah said the election-bound state faces two major challenges – infiltration and floods, and blamed the Congress for keeping the state away from development.
“Congress has ruled the state for over 50 years and kept the borders open for infiltrators. Our government has been fighting this for the last 10 years. If we come to power again this year, every illegal immigrant will be identified and expelled from Assam,” he added.
On the issue of flooding, Shah said the government was working on long-term solutions, including creating a large number of ponds and diverting the excess flow of the Brahmaputra River during the monsoon towards farmers’ fields and lakes to boost irrigation and tourism. He added that large lakes will also be developed to boost tourism.
Shah said that the VVP-II plan will contribute to further strengthening border security. According to him, the initiative will accelerate development in border areas, reduce migration and further help prevent infiltration.
He said the aim of the scheme is to ensure that people residing in the border areas do not migrate elsewhere due to lack of development and opportunities, but instead become contributors to national security by acting as the eyes and ears of the nation, thus helping in preventing crimes and cross-border infiltration.
“Through this scheme, more than 140 border villages in Assam will be developed like any other developed village in the country,” Shah said.
The program will cover nine districts, 26 blocks and 140 villages in Assam, which Shah said will get full development benefits like any other village in the country.
Other states and union territories included in the program are Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Shah said Assam has built about 14 km of roads daily over the past five years, making it one of the leading states in daily road construction, with more than 24,000 km of roads developed and four major bridges constructed.
He further said that apart from tackling infiltration, the state government has reduced incidents of bomb blasts and armed conflicts by curbing armed groups. He also said that multidimensional poverty in the state has reduced from 37% in 2013 to 14% in 2024.
Speaking on the programme, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for a new building. $22,000 Crore Expressway between Meghalaya and Barak Valley on March 14.
He said that this will be the first green highway in the North-East, extending from Purapani in Meghalaya to Panchgram in Assam. The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Silchar to attend the ceremony.
Meanwhile, Amit Shah in Tripura on Friday demanded that almost all languages and dialects of the northeast have accepted the Devanagari script, and Tripura should also accept the same.
While speaking at the Joint Regional Official Language Conference held at the Habania International Expo Ground in West Tripura District, Shah said: “We can maintain our identity in the text of our country. Language and text should not be in conflict. Language and text are a means of development.”
He said that there cannot be any dispute between Hindi and Indian languages as they are “sisters from the same mother who have moved forward by holding hands” and added that “when Hindi is promoted all languages automatically become stronger and all languages gain strength”.
“There are many languages in the country that have their own script but there are also many dialects that do not have a script. These dialects must also be preserved and stored. If we want to protect these dialects, it will be necessary to create a common script and this is where the idea of the Devanagari script gains strength,” Shah said.
